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. TORICAL DISCOURSE 



J 



AN 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 



DELIVERED AT THE CELEBRATION OF THE 
SECOND CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY 



OF THE 



FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, IN PROVIDENCE, 



NOVEMBER 7, 1839. 



By WILLIAM HAGUE, 



PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



<■ 



PROVIDENCE: 

B. CRANSTON AND COMPANY. 

BOSTON : GOULD, KENDALL AND LINCOLN. 

183 9. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year eighteen 
hundred and thirty-nine, by B. Cranston and Company, in the 
Clerk's Office of the District Court of Rhode-Island. 



At a meeting of the Committee appointed by the First 
Baptist Church and the Charitable Baptist Society, of the City 
cf Providence, to make arrangements for celebrating the com- 
pletion of the second century since the establishment of said 
Church and Society, held November 11, 1839, 

It was voted unanimously, That the thanks of this Commit- 
tee be returned to the Rev. William Hague, for his historical 
discourse delivered at the celebration on Thursday last, and 
that he be requested to furnish a copy for the press. 

Voted, That the Chairman and Secretary be requested to 
communicate the above vote to Rev. Mr. William Hague. 
A true copy : 

F. WAYLAND, Sec-ry. 



Providence, Nov. 12, 1839. 
Reverend and dear Sir : 

The undersigned, by the direction of the Committee, have 
the honor to communicate to you the above votes ; and they 
are happy to assure you, that they are 
With great respect. 
Dear sir, 

Your ob't serv'ts, 

NICHOLAS BROWN, 
F. WAYLAND. 



DISCOURSE. 



It is mentioned by the father of history, at the 
commencement of his immortal work, that he 
was prompted to write by a desire to preserve past 
events from obhvion, and to perpetuate the just 
renown which belonged to men of departed gen- 
erations.* Not unmindful of these motives, still 
higher ones animate us in meeting here to-day 
to commemorate the scenes and actors of a for- 
mer century. We too would wish like the 
Grecian sage to rescue the past from being for- 
gotten, to give honor to whom honor is due, but 
most of all, to contemplate afresh those great 
principles which our fathers cherished with a 
love stronger than death, to bring our tribute of 
praise to the altar of God who enabled them to 
establish on these shores the religion and the 
freedom for which they suffered, and hath given 

* Herodotus, Clio. §1. 



8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

US reason to exclaim at this day, " the lines have 
fallen to us in pleasant places, we have a goodly 
heritage." 

Two hundred years have now passed, since 
was founded in the colony which had become 
known as the asylum of oppressed consciences, 
this Church, the first of the Baptist name which 
was planted on the continent of America. Al- 
thou2fh that event occurred in a small commu- 
nity, in the midst of a savage wilderness, yet it 
was not shrouded in complete obscurit3r.*= Its 
founder was among the lights of his age, the 
friend of Cromwell and of Milton,f and like his 
companions, an exile on account of his faith. 
It was the grief and wonder of the Puritans 
among whom he first ministered, that a man so 
learned and so eloquent, so disinterested and so 
pious, could not submit himself to the laws of 
their church establishment, but claimed for man 
as man of every nation and of every creed, the 
same liberty of conscience which he demanded 
for himself. Not understanding as he did the 
nature of the christian dispensation, nor the full 
meaning of the truth that the weapons of Christ- 
ianity are not carnal but spiritual, not carrying 
out in all its length the maxim of Chillingworth, 

* Winthrop's Journal, p. 174. 
t Knowles's Memoir, p. 25, 264. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 9 

that " the bible alone is the religion of Protest- 
ants," nor confiding in the power of merely 
moral means to promote the triumphs of the 
church, they expressed at once the height of his 
offence, their dislike of his sentiments, and their 
apology for persecution, when they said that 
" his principles tended to anabaptistry."* 

In this age and in this commonwealth, it is 
not easy for one adequately to conceive of the 
feelings of abhorrence with which the rulers 
of the Church and the State, both in Old and 
New England, and throughout all Christendom, 
looked upon the rise of what they thought to be 
so portentous an evil. Sometimes the more 
clear sighted among them spoke of it in a man- 
ner which indicated a dread of its moral power, 
while others treated it as a weak vagary of un- 
quiet minds, destined soon to expire without 
leaving scarcely a trace of its existence. Baxter 
said, that at one time when England had little 
experience of its tendency and consequents, 
people used to speak of it as a temporary conceit 



* The expression of the ruling elder of Plymouth was, that 
he would run the same course of rigid separation and anabap- 
tistry, which Mr. Smyth, at Amsterdam, had done ; and it is 
said by Morton and Hubbard, that having removed to Salem, 
" in one year's time he filled that place with principles of rigid 
Beparation and tending to anabaptistry." — Backus, I. p. 56. 



10 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

of some heated spirits.* For the most part those 
who looked attentively at its nature and opera- 
tion, were inspired with a strange dread of its 
influence, and a feeling of relentless hostility 
toward it. Three hundred years are just com- 
pleted since the edict of Henry VIII, which 
proclaimed a general pardon for almost all her- 
etics except the Anabaptists.f That very year, 
thirtyone of them were martyred at Delft in 
Holland, the men being beheaded and the wo- 
men drowned.J It was certainly a remarkable 
year, for three men and one woman (called " Do- 
natists, new dipt,") bore faggots at St. Paul's 
cross, and one man and woman were burnt at 
Smithfield.^ This spirit of persecution is not 
so much to be wondered at as to be deplored. 
In a country where ecclesiastical and civil power 
were united, where every native was supposed 
to be born into the church as well as the state, 
where baptism had become both the seal of sal- 
vation and the sign of citizenship, where the 
parish register furnished to the ruler the statistics 
of population and to the individual the proof of 
his civil birthright, who can tell with what tcr- 

* Sylvester's Baxter, part I. 41. 

t Acts and Monuments, II. 358. 

t Dutch Martyr, lib. II. p. 123, quoted by Crosby. 

§ Stocs chron. in Fuller, B. 5. p. 229. § 11. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 11 

rors the very name of aiiabaptistry was invested ! 
As its chief and essential element, it proclaimed 
that the christian dispensation recognises no 
bond of union with the visible chm'ch, except 
a voluntary profession of christian faith. With 
what a decisive meaning did it strike at the 
established order of things in Europe : how 
directly was it seen to aim its blow at every 
legal bond which united the church and the 
state ! Here and there, in one and another 
age, as these principles sprung up in some 
congenial soil or some obscure recess, the foot 
of civil power was put forth to crush them. 
At different times and in different countries 
they had appeared and passed away, had flour- 
ished for a while in peaceful obscurity, then be- 
ing brought out to the light, received their chief 
attestations from the voice of expiring martyrs. 
No wonder that to many anabaptistry would 
seem as the chimera of some erratic mind, 
destined only for a short period to ruffle the 
surface of society and then for ever disap- 
pear. Yet wherever the spirit of religious in- 
quiry has been much awakened, wherever the 
word of God unbound hath moved the hearts of 
the people, there anabaptistry hath appeared ; 
appeared too amongst the sincere, the humble, 
the devout men of the earth. Over their minds 
the principle reigned with power, and amidst 



12 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

Storms of adversity they prophesied that its day 
would come. Thence the first planting of it on 
the American continent is an event of great im- 
portance, whether we consider the agitation 
which from age to age it has caused in Europe, 
or its w^orkings in society since it found an asy- 
lum in the new world. 

As the founder of this Church was the found- 
er of the Commonwealth, a proper occasion has 
been embraced by this community to commem- 
orate his worth as the first Christian legislator 
who proclaimed and established that principle of 
religious freedom, which constitutes the glory of 
Rhode-Island.* It is therefore the less needful 
now that I should narrate the events connected 
with his purchase of this territory of the Indians, 
and the organization of the civil government. 
Among the statesmen of the world he holds a 
singular pre-eminence, and comparing him with 
them, it is but just to say in the words of a liv- 
ing historian,! ''He was the first in modern 
Christendom to assert in its plenitude the doc- 
trine of the liberty of conscience, the equality of 
opinions before the law, and in its defence he 
was the harbinger of Milton, the precursor and 
superior of Jeremy Taylor." From first to last 

* Judge Pitman's Centennial Address, Providence, 183G. 
t Bancroft's History of the United States, v. I. p. 375. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 13 

this principle has been fondly cherished through* 
out Rhode-Island, and has impressed its charac- 
ter on all her legislation. In the words of an- 
other, " In her code of laws, we read for the first 
time since Christianity ascended the throne of 
the Cassars, that conscience should be free, and 
men should not be punished for worshipping God 
as they were persuaded he required, a declara- 
tion which to the honor of Rhode-Island she has 
never departed from. It still shines among her 
laws with an argument for its support in the 
shape of a preamble, which has rarely been sur- 
passed in power of thought or felicity of expres- 
sion."* 

It is a just matter of wonder that in that age, 
and from a monarch like Charles II, a charter 
embodying a principle so dreaded as a source of 
anarchy, could have been in any way obtained. 
It is doubtless true that his desire to tolerate 
the Catholics in England, disposed him favorably 
towards a proposition from a Puritan colonist, 
which would secure to Catholics the undisturbed 
enjoyment of their religion in this distant part of 
his dominion. In such a combination of events, 
however, Roger Williams could not but recog- 
nise the interposition of the Supreme Providence 
which rules the Universe, and declared the con- 

* Judge Story's Centennial Address, Salem, 1828, p. 57. 

2 



14 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

victions of his mind on this point \yhen he said 
'• all the world may see by his Majesty's de- 
claration and engagements before his return, and 
liis declarations and Parliament speeches since, 
and many suitable actings, how the Father of 
Spirits hath mightily impressed his royal spirit, 
though the bishops much disturbed him, with 
deep inclination of favor and gentleness to dif- 
ferent consciences and apprehensions as to the 
invisible king and Avay of his worship. Hence 
he hath vouchsafed his royal promise under his 
hand and broad seal, that no person in this colo- 
ny shall be molested or questioned for the mat- 
ters of his conscience to God, so he be loyal and 
keep the civil peace. Our grant is crowned with 
the king's extraordinary favor to this colony as 
being a banished one, in which his Majesty de- 
clared himself that he ivould ex'periment whether 
civil government could consist with such liberty 
of conscience. This his Majesty's grant was 
startled at by his Majesty's high officers of state, 
who were to view it in course before the sealing, 
but fearing the lion's roaring, they couched 
against their wills in obedience to his Majesty's 
pleasure."* What reason have we to rejoice 
that on this consecrated spot we can lift up our 
voices today in united testimony, and declare 

* Major Mason's Letter, Mass. His. Coll., Vol. 1. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 15 

that the great moral experiment which was begun 
here two centm'ies ago by an Enghsh king has 
been attended with success ; that here without 
one invasion of hberty of conscience, rehgion has 
been upheld, civil order maintained, life and 
property secured, justice dispensed, education 
diffused, the peaceful arts cultivated, social con- 
cord cherished, and a general concert of action 
preserved among men of conflicting religious 
opinions not only to attain the great ends of civil 
government, but also to promote the progress of 
society. It is a glorious result to vWiich we bear 
witness, one which our forefathers saw only by 
the eye of faith, but saw so clearly, that the blest 
vision thereof made their hearts strong in the day 
of calamity ; a result which may tell loudly on 
the moral advancement of our race, and which 
we Vv^ould fain proclaim as with the voice of 
many waters and the voice of mighty thunder- 
ings, till it reach the ear of every dweller on the 
face of the earth, Avho in the spirit of christian 
love is toiling to elevate downtrodden and de- 
graded humanity. 

Without entering very minutely into the bi- 
ography of Roger Williams, the knowledge of 
which, from various sources, is now accessible 
by all of us, it may be well just to glance at an 
outline of his life. The best accounts of him 
state that he was born in Wales, in 1599. From 



16 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

a remark of his own, it seems probable that he 
became pious in his youth, for in a book written 
in 1673,* he says, '' the truth is, from my child- 
hood, now above three score years, the Father 
of lights and mercies touched my soul with a 
love to himself, and to his only begotten the 
true Lord Jesus, to his holy scriptures." He 
studied law under the patronage of Sir Edward 
Coke, but afterwards devoted himself to theo- 
logy, received Episcopal orders and had the 
charge of a parish in England. His lot was 
cast in stormy times, and both his temperament 
and education fitted him to act some decisive 
part in passing scenes. Possessing an ardent 
love for truth and liberty, he was led by his 
convictions to join the Puritans, and like others 
of them emigrated to New-England, which had 
become famous abroad as the home of piety and 
freedom. He arrived at Nantasket in February, 
1631, and on reaching Boston, and finding the 
church there wielding a sceptre of civil power, 
at once he declared himself dissatisfied with 
them because they had not abjured those prin- 
ciples on the ground of which they had been 
united to the established church of England. 
Then, he broached the great doctrine, that civil 
governments, being constituted only for civil and 

* Crcorge Fox digged out of liis burrowcs. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 17 

secular ends, the magistrate hath no right to in- 
terfere in the affairs of conscience. He seems 
at that time, to have fully matured the truth 
that a church established by civil law, can not 
be, as to its outward order, a true church of 
Christ ; that so far as civil authority enforces 
religious duties, so far the church which allows 
it becomes a " kingdom of this world," and not 
the spiritual empire of which Jesus Christ is the 
only sovereign. Giving offence to the rulers in 
Boston, by avowing opinions so adverse to their 
ecclesiastical polity, he went to Salem, where he 
was YvTell received, and chosen teacher by the 
church. At this the court in Boston marvelled 
much, and raised such an excitement against 
him, that in less than a year, he removed to 
Plymouth, where he was associated with Mr. 
Ralph Smith, the Pastor, as an assistant teacher. 
We have the testimony of Governor Bradford to 
the excellent character of his ministry, but his 
distinguishing doctrine of human liberty, which 
was involved in his idea of the spirituality of 
the christian dispensation, was the cause of an 
opposition to him, which disposed him in 1663 
to listen favorably to a call from the church in 
Salem, to return to that place. Of all the 
churches in Massachusetts, that of Salem was 
most attached to the principle of independency, 
2* 



IS HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

and maintained it most resolutely.* The next 
year he was ordained their pastor, on which 
accomit the court in Boston manifested strong 
hostility to them, refusing even to hold inter- 
course with them touching matters of civil just- 
ice, until they retraced their steps. Thrice 
was he called before them to answer to several 
accusations. One was, impugning the justice of 
that patent by virtue of which the colony held 
her lands, inasmuch as it paid no regard to the 
rights of the Indians. Another was, calling the 
estabhshed church of England antichristian. — 
I'he third was, saying that an oath ought not 
to be enforced on an unregenerate man, which 
assertion being based on the opinion that an 
oath is an act of worship^ was defended by an 
argument remarkable for its simplicity and 
strength. But the worst of all was, declaring 
that " the magistrate ought not to punish the 
breach of the first table, otherwise than it did 
disturb the civil peace." His sentiment on that 
subject is thus expressed in his own words :f — 
'' As the civil permission of all the consciences 
and worship of all men in things merely spiritu- 
al, is no ways inconsistent with true Christianity 
and true civility, so, it is the duty of the magis- 

* Upham's 2d Cent'y Disc. p. 41. 
t Hireling Ministry, p. 36, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 19 

trate to suppress all violences to the bodies and 
goods of men for their souls' belief, and to 
provide that not one person in the land be re- 
strained from or constrained to any worship. 
ministry, or maintenance, but peaceably main- 
tained in his soul [liberty] as well as corporal 
freedom.''* 

At the General Court in 1635, two letters were 
produced against him, the sentiments of which 
he boldly defended, and the next morning his 
sentence of banishment was pronounced. It 
stands recorded in the State papers of that day. 
proclaims as the '' head and front of his offend- 
ing" his doctrine touching the authority of mag- 
istrates, and commands him to depart out of the 
jurisdiction of the Commonwealth within six 
weeks, on penalty of forcible expulsion. The 
very rulers who had before sought to get rid of 

* Judge Pitman well suggests, tliat two other charges men- 
tioned by VVinthrop were thrown in for the sake of effect. 
These were, that a man ought not to pray with unrcgenerate 
persons, nor to give thanks after sacrament or after meat. 
It is probable that what Mr. Williams uttered on these point? 
was connected with the fact that men indiscriminately were 
constrained to these duties, and that the church forms treated 
all as regenerate. Certain it is that the letter which several 
of the nobility and gentlemen of England wrote to the rulers 
of Massachusetts in behalf of Mr. Williams, asserted that each 
party spoke well of the other, except in regard to religioug 
liberty. 



20 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

two men among them on account of their cher- 
ishing Vv'hat was deemed too great an attachment 
to the forms of the Church of England, now 
banish another for defending the rights of all 
who were persecuted for conscience's sake. 

Such was the excitement which the publica- 
tion of this sentence produced in Salem, that 
the government considered it expedient at first 
to allow him to remain through the winter. 
But on hearing that a number of persons resorted 
to his house, that about twenty of them had been 
drawn to his opinions, and that they intended to 
depart together to erect a new plantation about 
the Narragansett Bay, the court feared the spread 
of his contagious doctrines from thence through 
all the churches of their commonv/ealth, and re- 
solved to crush in the bud a plan so dangerous. 
Thence they sent him a peremptor^^ order to re- 
pair forthwith to Boston to be shipped. He 
replied that he could not come without hazard 
of his life. On this a pinnace was sent with a 
commission to Captain Underbill, to take him 
by force. But their design was anticijiated, and 
wlien they reached his house, they found that 
he had been gone tlu'ee da^^s. In the midst of 
winter, this venerable pilgrim, this apostle of re- 
ligious liberty, went forth from his home, like the 
patriarch Abraham, not knowing whither he 
went. Yet like Abraham, he walked by faith. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 21 

He moved with a firm unfaltering step. Who 
can tell what perils he braved, what hardships 
tried his soul ? Who can adequately picture the 
dangers which beset the path of the lonely 
traveller through an unexplored forest, amidst 
piercing cold, and drifting snows, uncertain at 
every step where to find firm footing, making 
his bed now under the covert of a reck, now in 
a hollow tree, and only relieved at times by the 
luxury of an Indian wigwam ? No wonder is it 
that he said in his old age, he felt " the effects of 
those severities/' But well may we wonder that 
his spirit was undaunted, that his bodily strength 
endured. Deeply must he have felt that he 
was made strong by the power of the mighty 
God of Jacob ; a sentiment which he has ex- 
pressed with sweet simplicity in stanzas which 
allude to the fact that when exiled by his 
brethren, the hearts of the savages were open to 
receive him. 

" How kindly flames of nature burn 
In wild humanitie — 

God's providence is rich to hi-s, 

Let none distrustful be ; 
In wilderness in great distress, 

These ravens have fed mc. 

Lost many a time, I 've had no guide, 

No house but hollow tree ; 
In stormy win'cr night, no fire, 

No food, no company. 



22 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

God makes a path, provides a guide, 

And feeds in wilderneps ; 
His ^lorioiss name while earth remains, 

O that I may confess."* 

True bcECVolencG, though it always confers 
inward peace, is not always attended in this 
world with visible and outward reward. It was 
otherwise in the case of Mr. Williams. He was 
the first Christian Missionary to the Indians in 
North- America. While at Plymouth and Salem, 
he says, '' My souVs desire was to do them gcod. 
God was pleased to give me a painful patient 
spirit to lodge with them in their fdthy, smoky 
holes, to ^ain their tonprue." Little did he 
think, however, while he was taking such 
pains to impart to them the knowledge of eter- 
nal life, that he was preparing the means of his 
own temporal salvation. Yet so it was. The 
knowledsre of their lanajuaa-e, which he thus 
gained, enabled him to hold intercourse with 
tlicm in the wilderness, to awaken their sym- 
pathies, and to command their confidence ; and 
after having been warned by the Plymouth gov- 
ernment to leave Seekonk, where he " first 
pitched and began to build and plant," it enabled 
him as he sailed around yonder point, to answer 
the friendly cry of " WJiatchcer^''^-\ witli which 

* Key, oliap. II. &cc. 

i" A friendly grcctiiij, '.vhieh tlic Indians had karned from 
the En'riifih. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 23 

the Indians hailed him there, in words that won 
upon their hearts. Thus, led by a " right way 
to a city of habitation," his spirit was deeply 
touched with a sense of the interposition of God, 
and tiience he says, in view of the counsel and 
advice which he received, "as to the freedom 
and vacancy of this place, and many other pro- 
vidences of the Most Holy and Only Wise, 1 
called it Providence."* 

It is not to be supposed that a man so devout 
as he, could reach the end of his pilgrimage, 
without, like the ancient patriarch, erecting an 
altar and calling upon the Lord. There is no 
reason to doubt that he immediately com.menced 
public worship. He who had panted to preach 
the gospel to the Indians, who amidst his trials 
in Massachusetts had become almost exhausted 
with his ministerial labors, constantly conversing 
and preaching thrice a week, he certainly could 
not long remain on this spot, which by its very 
name he had solemnly consecrated, without en- 
deavoring to promote the institutions of religion. 
Thence we are not surprised to learn from Win- 
throp, " that he was accustomed to hold meet- 
ings both on the Sabbaths and on week days."t 
Those who had been members of the church in 

* Major Mason's Letter, 
t Vol. 1, p. 283. 



24 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

Salem would naturally regard hirn as their pas- 
tor still. It is a just remark of his biographer, 
that Mr. Williams may have judged it to be 
most conducive to the peace and welfare of his 
little colony, to erect at first no district church, 
but to gather the inhabitants into one assembly 
for worship until the number should have so 
increased, as to enable them to form separate 
churches, and maintain public worship conform- 
ably to then- own views. If so, it was an event 
of extraordinary character, a thing quite unpre- 
cedented in the annals of the world, for the 
founder of a colony to prepare the way for the 
division of the people into sects, relying only on 
argument and pursuasion to induce a conformity 
with his own opinions. How strong must have 
been his faith in the moral power and ultimate 
prevalence of ti^ath ! How clearly must he have 
seen that the union which christians should 
desire, is not so much a formal blending of all 
sects into one body, as a mhty of spirit, cherished 
in spite of speculative differences, a mutual 
respect for each other's moral freedom, which 
inspires the hearts that feel it, with an abhor- 
rence of all unchristian or unmanly means of 



Having reached a land Avhere in religious 
things he could speak and act without restraint 
or fear, he began to carry out the principle he 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 25 

had adopted to their legitimate results. He 
counted not himself to have already attained or 
to be already perfect, but cherished the spirit of 
that admirable farewell address, delivered by 
the excellent Robinson of Leyden to the first 
Puritan company which sailed for New England. 
"I charge you," says he, ''before God and the 
blessed angels, to follow me no further than you 
have seen me follow Christ ; if God shall reveal 
anything to you by any other instrument of his, 
be as ready to receive it, as you were to receive 
any truth by my ministry ; for I am verily per- 
suaded that he has more truth yet to break forth 
out of his holy word. For my part I cannot 
sufficiently bewail the condition of the reformed 
churches who are come to a period in religion, 
and will go at present no further than the instru- 
ments of their reformation. The Lutherans 
cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther 
saw ; whatever part of his will our God has 
revealed to Calvin they will rather die than 
embrace it, and the Calvinists you see stick fast 
where they were left by that great man of God, 
who yet saw not all things. But take heed 
what you receive as truth, examine it, consider 
it, and compare it with other scriptures before 
you receive it, for it is not possible the christian 
world should come so lately out of such thick 
anti-christian darkness, and that full perfection 



26 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

of knowledge should break forth at once."* In 
accordance with such a sentiment, Mr. Williams 
proceeded to study more largely the will of God. 
His mind was naturally clear sighted and impul- 
sive, and doubtless ever disposed to carry a 
principle out to its just conclusion or else to give 
it up altogether. He had already obtained lucid 
views of the spiritual nature of the Christian dis- 
pensation, of the supremacy of Christ's word as 
the rule of faith and practice, of the free and vol- 
untary character of genuine religion. It is not 
surprising therefore that he became dissatisfied 
in what was called a baptism, which resulted 
from no act of choice on his part, which was ad- 
ministered in unconscious infancy, which was 
defended by reasonings that tend.ed to blend the 
Jewish and Christian dispensations, and which 
were thence at war with the spiritual constitu- 
tion of the Christian church. As to the mode of 
it, his knowledge of the force of language would 
lead him to unite with the whole Greek church, 
when they say of the sprinkling or pouring 
practised in Western Europe, " it is no baptism.'' 
As to the subjects of it, he could find no warrant 
for applying the rite to unconscious beings in 
the New Testament. There was no escaping 
the conclusion therefore, that according to the 

* Ncal, vol. I. p. 490. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 27 

command of Christ it was his duty to be 
baptized on a profession of his faith. In his 
view, this could not justly be called anabaptism, 
or second baptism, inasmuch as he could not 
admit that he had ever been baptized at all, and 
the rite which had been applied to him in his 
infancy, was classed by him amongst the cor- 
ruptions of Christianity. 

The difficulty which immediately arose how- 
ever, was the want of a proper administrator, for 
at that time no ordained minister could be found 
in America, who had been immersed on a pro- 
fession of his faith. A regard for order, would 
naturally lead Mr. Williams and those who were 
with him, to wish for such a person ; and if any 
of them had laid any stress on the prevalent idea 
of the necessity of a regular succession of bap- 
tized ministers from the apostles, in order to 
administer baptism properly, their case would 
be somewhat embarrassing. The same question 
had been discussed in London a short time be- 
fore, in the year 1633, in a Baptist church which 
was formed by an amicable secession from a body 
of Independents, of which Rev. John Lathrop 
was the minister. Some of the members follow- 
ing out the same principles which Roger Wil- 
liams promulgated in Massachusetts, came to the 
conclusion that there was no divine warrant for 
infant baptism. Among these was Kiffin, a 



28 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

princely merchant well known in the court of 
Charles 11. , and from whom that monarch conde- 
scended to ask a loan of thirty thousand pounds ] 
a request to which Kiffin replied that he could 
not command so much money just then, but at 
the same time presented to his Majesty one third 
of that sum. Kiffin left a manuscript containing 
an account of the formation of the new church, 
to which Crosby in his history of the Baptists, 
makes a reference.* It seems that some of 
these were very desirous to receive baptism in 
a manner the least objectionable ; and though 
there were Baptists in EnglaiKl who could have 
administered the ordinance to them, they chose 
to send to the Netherlands, where there were 
those whose baptism was said to have descended 
from the Waldensian Christians. One of their 

* Thomas Crosby was a Mathematical teacher in London, 
the early part of the last century, and a deacon of the church 
of which Dr. John Gill was Pastor. He was led to publish 
his history of the Baptists, by the following circumstance : — 
Having heard that Mr. Neal was preparing a history of the 
Puritans, he placed in the possession of that writer many val- 
uablc materials from which a just representation of the condition 
and progress of the Baptists might have been drawn. But 
on the publication of Ncal's work, it appeared that little use 
had been made of these papers, and that to the subjects of 
which they treated, the partialities of that author had rendered 
him incapable of doing historical justice. For an illustration 
of Ncal's failure at this point, see Dr. Price's History of Pro- 
tcstant Nonconformity, vol. II. p. 319. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 29 

iiumlDer, therefore, Mr. Richard Bloimt, who 
understood the Dutch language, was commis- 
sioned to go for this purpose. On his return, 
he baptized Rev. Samuel Blacklock, and these 
two baptized the rest, " whose names are in the 
manuscript, to the number of fifty three."* 

Most of the Baptists in England however, it is 
said, regarded this as " needless trouble, and what 
proceeded from the old popish doctrine of right 
to administer sacraments by an uninterrupted 
succession, which neither the Church of Rome 
nor the Church of England could prove to be with 
them. They affirmed therefore, and practised 
accordingly, that after a general corruption of 
baptism, an unbaptized person might warranta- 
bly baptize, and so begin a reformation. "f 

In the year 1609, a treatise was published in 
Holland, by Rev. Mr. Smyth, in which, says 
Crosby, he defended the two following princi- 
ples : — First, that " upon the supposition of the 
true baptism being lost for some time, through 
the disuse of it, it is necessary there should be 
two persons to unite in the administration." 
The second is, that ^' the first administrator 
must be a member of some church, who shall 

* Crosby's History of the Baptists, vol. 1. p. 182, London 
edition, 1738. 

t Persecution Judged and Condemned, p. 41, quoted by 
Crosby. 

3* 



30 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

call and empower him to administer it to the 
other members."* 

On these latter principles, Mi*. Williams and 
his friends seem to have acted ; for IMi'. Holli- 
man, who was afterwards a Deputy from the 
town of Warwick to the General Court, was 
appointed by the little community, to baptize 
Mr. Williams, and then he baptized the rest.f 
Backus thinks it probable, that he concluded 
that his case was similar to that proposed by 
Zanchius, Professor of Theology at Heidel- 
berg, in his commentary on the fifth chapter 
of Ephesians. He supposes a Turk, by reading 
the New Testament, to become converted, and 
to be the means of converting his family to 
Christ. Not living in a christian country, nor 
having access to christian ministers, Zanchius 
desires to know whether he must necessarily 
live without practising the christian ordinances ? 
He answers in the negative, saying that he may 
be baptized by one of his own converts, " be- 
cause he is a minister of the word, extraordi- 
narily stirred up of Christ ; and so as such a 
minister, may, with the consent of that small 
church, appoint one of the communicants and 
provide that he be baptized by him." But it is 

* Crosby, I. p. 100. 

t Backus's Hist. vol. I. p. 105-6. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 31 

supposed by some, that one higher than Zan- 
chius, even the great head of the Church himself, 
has anticipated such a case, and has provided for 
it by direct legislation ; for in that part of the 
eighteenth chapter of Matthew, where Christ 
converses with his disciples, respecting the 
discipline of the church, he says, " where two 
or three are gathered together, or associated, in 
my name J there am I in the midst of themP 
Those have reason for their opinion, who think 
that Christ intended to lay the proper basis for 
a true church, and in effect declares that when- 
ever any unite by solemn covenant, in his name, 
to walk together in obedience to his command- 
ments, there he will be to ratify and bless their 
union ; and that thence they have from his word 
as much authority for their acts as a church, as 
they would have if his personal presence were 
revealed among them, and they were to receive 
a commission directly from his lips. A church 
thus united would be bound to take his word 
as their rule, to observe all things whatsoever 
he has commanded them; to appoint their 
bishops and their deacons, and to do every thing 
decently and in order ; and would thus exem- 
plify the great principle that succession arises 
from order, and not order from succession. 

In regard to a case of baptism, however, like 
that of Mr. Williams's, it is worthy to be men- 



32 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

tioned, that in every age and in every church, 
baptism by the hands of a layman has been 
deemed vahd in case of necessity. Numerous 
authorities might be adduced to show this, but 
suffice it now to name Potter, Archbishop of Can- 
terbury, Avho says, in the age of Tertullian, it 
was permitted to laymen to baptize when neces- 
sity required it ; and in the time of Ambrose, it 
was the common opinion that laymen may bap- 
tise in cases of extreme danger, neither can any 
instance be produced where this practice was 
condemned by any council.* 

Thus was formed (in March, 1639, according 
to Winthrop,) the first Baptist church in Amer- 
ica. The members who first constituted it were 
ten in number, and their names were these : — 
Roger Williams, Ezekiel Holliman, William 
Harris, Stuckley Westcot, John Green, Rich- 
ard Waterman, Thomas James, Robert Cole, 
Francis Westcot, and Thomas Olney. 

It is quite remarkable that the work of found- 
ing this Church, devolved chiefly on a man who 
had been at first a clergyman of the Church of 
England, and was a Paedo-Baptist when he em- 
igrated to America, instead of some one of that 
multitude of Baptists who were then living in 
England and in Holland. Although the cir- 

* Potter on Church Government, p. 233-4. Phila. 1824. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 33 

cumstances in which the baptism of the first 
members of this Church occmTcd were quite ex- 
traordinary, and excited at first some question as 
to the vahdity of the rite, yet it is now generally 
regarded as satisfactory, according to the princi- 
ples admitted by all protestant Christians. For 
as we have seen, according to the sentiments 
generally held by the Baptists themselves, it 
must be admitted to be valid, and in the view of 
Pasdo-Baptists, Mr. Williams was, of course, 
qualified to administer Christian ordinances. 
Nevertheless, if it were otherwise, the question 
would not have so much practical importance, 
as some who have made but slight inquiry into 
the subject have been disposed to think. An 
impression has to some extent prevailed, that 
Roger Williams may be justly called the head 
and founder of the Baptist denomination of 
America, and also, that of what was considered 
in his day the hefi^esy of religious liberty, he has 
the credit of being not only the promulgator, 
but the author. Historical justice requires that 
we give to both of these points some attention. 
Touching the first, a few words will suffice . 
Comparatively few of the members of this 
Church have derived their baptism from Roger 
Williams, and comparatively few of the Baptists 
of America have sprung from this body. For 
more than half a century, this Church has had 



34 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

ministers, whose baptism had no connexion 
with that of Mr. Wilhams. As early as 1663, a 
Baptist church, mider the ministry of the Rev. 
John Miles, of whom Mather speaks respectful- 
ly,* emigrated from Swanzea, in Wales, to Wan- 
namoiset, within the bounds of the Plymouth 
Colony, of which they received a grant, and 
called it Swanzea, the name which the town- 
ship now bears. None but a Baptist church has 
ever existed there. In the words of Professor 
Knowles, ''of the 400,000 Baptist communi- 
cants now in the United States, a small fraction 
only have had any connexion, either immediate 
or remote, with the venerable Church at Provi- 
dence, though her members are numerous, and 
she has been honored as the mother of many 
ministers." 

The second point just suggested, will require 
a more ample notice. 

Roger Williams is worthy of all praise for 
the profound and lucid views which lie took, of 
the nature of religious liberty, and of its be- 
ing an essential element in the constitution of 
a christian church. He did not consider the 
belief of it necessary to salvation, but a church 
established by law, and enforcing its creed, 
he regarded in its outward constitution to be 

* Ecclesiastical History of New-England, p. 27. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 35 

anti-christian. He saw that it contained an 
element altogether irreconcilable with the ge- 
nius of Christianity, and one which indicated a 
profound mistake as to the real character of the 
present dispensation. He justly judged it there- 
fore to be a part of the grand apostasy. When 
a man has once a clear and strong faith like that 
in the doctrine of ''soul-freedom," he never for- 
sakes it. The principle incorporates itself with 
the essential elements of his mind, modifies his 
opinions of the relations of men, the nature of a 
church, and the end of civil government. Then, 
it is no longer enough for him that his creed be 
tolerated ; he feels it to be an injury inflicted on 
himself, and on the cause of man, that any hu- 
man power should assume the right to tolerate. 
He regards such an assumption in any class of 
men, as partaking of the nature of a conspiracy 
against human liberty, as raising obstructions to 
the exercise of such an intelhgent heartfelt faith 
in Christ as the gospel demands, and as being 
directly opposed to the spirit of that moral pro- 
bation, in which God has chosen to place the 
world under the government of Messiah. Hence 
Williams says, "It is the will and command of 
God, that since the coming of his Sonne (the 
Lord Jesus) a permission of the most Paganish, 
Jewish, Turkish or anti-christian conscience and 
Avorships be granted to all men, in all nations 



36 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

and countries ; and they are only to he fought 
against with that sword, which is only (in soule 
matters) able to conquer, to wit, the sword of 
God's Spirit, the word of God."^ Again he 
speaks of " thousands and tens of thousands, yea 
the whole generation of the righteous, who since 
the falling away (from the first primitive christ- 
ian state or worship) have and do err fundament- 
ally concerning the true matter, constitution, 
gathering and governing of the church ; and 
yet far be it from any pious breast to imagine, 
that they are not saved, and that their souls are 
not bound up in the bundle of eternal life."f 

Now, whence was it, that this great assertor 
of human freedom obtained such clear percep- 
tions of a principle, which was in his day so 
much abhorred, but which has since won such 
majestic triumphs, and is still going on from 
conquering to conquer? Why was he in the 
discovery of moral and political truth, so far in 
advance of the leading men of New England, 
and that too in an age, when all the subjects 
which pertain to man's social and religious con- 
dition were so hotly agitated ? Was it that he 
possessed a clearer intellect or a more profound 
philosophy than they ? No where could the 

* Introduction to the " Bloody Tcncnt." 
t Bloody Tencnt, p. 20. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 37 

materials be found, to construct the least plausi- 
ble proof of such a position. A passage in one 
of his works will give us some clue to a proper 
answer to this inquiry. It relates to a man of 
some learning, but of more piety, in humble life, 
a Baptist minister, and pastor of a church in 
London. It was the excellent Samuel Howe, 
successor to John Canne, author of the marginal 
references to the bible. His church suffered 
bitter persecution from the clergy and bishops' 
courts, on account of their sentiments touching 
liberty of conscience ; and when he died, a 
guard was placed around the parish church, to 
prevent his friends from giving him decent burial. 
Nevertheless, many followed him to the grave, 
which was in the highway, and a funeral ad- 
dress was delivered from a brewer's cart. He 
had followed the occupation of a shoe maker, 
was distinguished for great natural genius, and 
was the author of a small treatise, entitled " The 
Sufficiency of the Spirit's Teaching." His em« 
ployment was hinted at in some commendatory 
lines prefixed to the work by a friendly hand^ 
and in the style of the times j 

What How ? how now ? hath How such learning^ found. 
To throw Art's curious image to the ground ? 
Cambridge and Oxford may their glory now 
Veil to a Cobbler, if they know but How. 

4 



38 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

This man died in 1641, and of him, Ro^er 
WiUiams says, " Amongst so many instances 
dead and living, to the everlasting praise of 
Christ Jesus, and of his Holy Spirit, breathing 
and blessing where he listeth, I cannot but 
with honorable testimony remember that emi- 
nent christian witness and prophet of Christ, 
even that despised and yet beloved Samuel 
Howe, who being by calling a cobbler and with- 
out human learning, (which yet in its sphere 
and place he honored,) who yet I say, by search- 
ing the holy scriptures grew so excellent a text- 
uary, or scripture-learned man, that few of those 
high rabbis that scorn to mend or make a shoe, 
could aptly or readily from the holy scriptures- 
outgo him. And however, (through the oppres- 
sion upon some men's consciences even in life 
and death, and after death, in respect of biu-y- 
ing, as yet unthought and remedied,) I say, how- 
ever he was forced to seek a grave or bed in the 
highway, yet was his life and death and burial 
(being attended with many hundreds of God's 
people) honorable and (how much more at his 
rising again) glorious.* 

If then, while in England, Roger Williams 
held friendly communings with men of such a 

* Hireling Ministry, None of Christ's, Lon. 1652, p. 11, 12.. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 39 

spirit, who were publishing there at the hazard 
of reputation, and property, and hfe, the same 
principles which have since attracted the states- 
man's eye a-s he has seen them shining among 
the statutes of this commonwealth, we need be 
at no loss to conjecture whence he drew them. 
He learned them from men who derived them 
from the Bible. The fact is, that although in 
New-England he seemed to stand alone, there 
were many in Old England with v/hom he had 
common sympathies, who cherished the same 
sentiments, who in some instances suiTered for 
them the loss of all things, clung to them under 
galling bondage, and proclaimed them amidst the 
foes of martyrdom. 

An allusion has already been made to the fact, 
that before Mr. Williams left Plymouth, an ap- 
prehension was expressed by the ruling Elder 
there, '' that he would run the same course of 
anabaptistry, that Mr. Smyth, of Amsterdam, had 
done." This man was once a minister of the 
Church of England, but having spent nine 
months in studying the controversy between 
that Chiuch and the Puritans, he joined the lat- 
ter, and is spoken of as a leading man among 
them in 1592. In 1606, he settled at Amster- 
dam, over the Puritan Church there, and from 
having begun to question the validity of infant 



40 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

baptism in the Church of England, he gave it 
up altogether. Then, changing his views as to 
the nature and design of baptism, he became 
the head of a secession from the Puritans, and 
formed a Baptist Church. It was reported by 
his enemies, that he had baptized himself, and 
thence they called him a Se-Baptist. That, 
however, was an ill-grounded report, inasmuch 
as there is no proof of it, and it is contrary to 
those principles contained in his writings which 
have already been stated. Against Mr. Smyth 
and other Separatists from the Established 
Church, the celebrated Bishop Hall took up his 
pen, and speaks of him in a manner which indi- 
cates the eminence he held among the ministers 
of that day. Alluding to him in an address to 
Mr. Robinson of Leyden, he says, '' what is be- 
come of your partner, yea, your guide ? Wo 
is me, he hath renounced Christendom with our 
church, and hath Avashed off his former waters 
with new, and now condemns you all for not 
separating farther, no less than we condemn you 
for separating so far. He tells you true ; yoiu* 
station is unsafe ; either you must go forwai'd to 
him, or back to us. All your Rabbis cannot 
answer that charge of your rebaptized brother. 
If we be a true church, you must return ; if we 
be not, as a false church is no church of God, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 41 

you must rebaptize. If our baptism be good, 
then is our constitution good."* 

About the year 1611, Mr Smyth died, and was 
succeeded by Mr Helwisse, in company with 
whom the church returned to London, in 1614. 
When we consider the reasons for that event, it 
presents a subhme moral spectacle to which 
history has not done justice. Although the 
spirit of persecution was still raging in England, 
they became impressed with the idea that to 
fly from it, betrayed a want of courage and of 
true fidelity to Christ. Believing that they 
were converted to God in order to be lights in 
the world holding forth the word of life, they 
felt bound, they said, to let their light shine by 
their conversation amongst the wicked, as the 
greatest means of converting them and destroy- 
ing anti-christ's kingdom : overcoming (not by 
flying away, but) by the blood of the Lamb, and 
by the icoi^d of their testimony, "not loving their 
lives unto the death. Speaking of the Divine 
goodness to Israel under the ancient dispensation 
they say, '^ did God thus respect his work and 
people then, as all must put to their helping hand, 
and none must withdraw their shoulder lest oth- 



* Bishop Hall's Apology of the Church of England, p. 722, 
794, quoted by Ivimey. 
4* 



42 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

ers should be discouraged, and is there no regard 
to be had thereof now ; but any occasion, as fear 
of a httle imprisonment or the like, may excuse 
any both from the Lord's work and the help of 
their brethren, that for want of their society and 
comfort are exceedingly weakened, if not over- 
come ?" These sentiments are expressed in a 
tract which they put forth, entitled, 'Persecution 
for Religion judged and condemned." If any 
should say, that in returning to England, they 
erred in judgment, all must admit that an im- 
pressive moral glory invests their characters, in 
the attitude which they then assumed, since they 
were not fanatics courting martyrdom, but calm 
defenders of the rights of man. It is said by 
an able critic of the present day, that in the trea- 
tise which they published, ''they maintained 
with admirable explicitness, the impolicy and 
wickedness of persecution. They chose their 
ground with judgment, and defended it with 
scriptural fidelity ; and the arguments which 
they employed, are suited to every age and to 
every form of persecution. The distinct pro- 
vince of politics and religion, of God and the 
magistrate, is clearly marked, and the absurdity 
of persecution is thence argued. This was 
putting the question on its right basis, and enti- 
tles the authors of this treatise to the gratitude 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 43 

and admiration of posterity."* This event oc- 
curred during the youth of Roger WiUiams, and 
we may reasonably suppose that his mind might 
have been strongly influenced by such an exhibi- 
tion of the principles of freedom, and by the illus- 
tration of their power in so noble an example. 

In considering the workings of his thoughts, 
it is interesting to observe how Williams's views 
of the spiritual nature of Christ's Kingdom, pre- 
served him from the errors of some men, high in 
political life, who were connected with the Bap- 
tists, and with whom he associated in England. 
I refer to such men as Major-General Harrison, 
second in command in Cromwell's army, togeth- 
er with others, who though advocating liberty 
of conscience in all its latitude, were expecting 
the government of the world to be given to the 
saints, and the coming of Messiah's reign with 
great outward glory. These were called Fifth 
Monarchy-men, and among them were a num- 
ber of Baptist ministers, such as Feake and 
Simson, to whom Mr. Williams refers in a letter 
to Governor Winthrop, soon after his return from 
England. " Surely, sir," he observes, " he (Ma- 
jor-General Harrison) is a very gallant, most 
deserving, heavenly man, but most high flown 



* Dr. Price's History of Protestant Nonconformity, vol. I, 
p. 519-20. 



44 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

for the kingdom of the Saints, and the Fifth 
Monarchy now risen, and their sun never to set 
again. Others, as to my knowledge, the Pro- 
tector, Lord President Lawrence, and others at 
helm, with Sir Henry Vane, (retired into Lin- 
colnshire, yet daily missed and courted for his 
assistance,) are not so full of that faith of mira- 
cles, but still imagine changes and persecutions 
and the very slaughter of the witnesses, before 
that glorious morning, so much desired of a 
worldly kingdom, if ever such a kingdom {as 
literally it is by so many expounded) be to arise 
in this present world and dispensation."* Gen- 
eral Harrison was naturally of an ardent temper- 
ament ; "of such vivacity," says Baxter, " hilar- 
ity and alacrity, as another hath when he hath 
drunken a cup too much." And though it might 
be supposed that his favorite theory would com- 
mend itself to such a glowing spirit as that of 
Roger Williams, yet it is pleasing to see that the 
latter, in all his reasonings, seemed to act under 
a deep impression of that saying of Christ, " The 
kingdom of God cometh not with observation, 
for the kingdom of God is within you." 

A close view of the condition of England in 
that day, will convince us that the sentiments of 
the Baptists must have been long and deeply at 

* Knowlcs's Memoir, p. 2G3. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 45 

work there, for as soon as the pressure of a per- 
secuting government was removed, they rose up 
a great multitude which astonished every be- 
holder. Dr. Featley, their great and bitter op- 
ponent, says of their spreading sentiments, '' this 
foe in the reign of Q,ueen Elizabeth and King 
James, and our gracious sovereign, (Charles I,) 
till now was covered in England under the ashes; 
or if it broke out at any time, by the care of the 
ecclesiastical and civil magistrates, it was soon 
put out. But of late, since the unhappy distrac- 
tions which our sins have brought upon us, the 
temporal sword being otherwise employed, and 
the spiritual locked up fast in the scabbard, this 
sect among others has so far presumed upon the 
patience of the state, that it hath held weekly 
conventicles, rebaptized hundreds of men and 
women together in the twilight, in rivulets and 
some arms of the Thames. It hath printed 
divers pamphlets in defence of their heresy, yea, 
and challenged some of our preachers to dispu- 
tation."* Baxter also says, that those who at first 
were but a few in the city and the army, had 
within two or three years, grown into a multi- 
tude, and were beginning to expect some of them 
that the baptized saints would judge the world.f 

* Featley's Dippers dipt, — Prefaratory Epistle, 
t Works XX, 297. 



46 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

He wrote much against them, but in the spirit 
of christian candor he says, ''upon a review of 
my arguments with Mr. Tombes upon the con- 
troversy about infant baptism, I find I have 
used too many provoking words, for which I am 
heartily sorry, and desire pardon both of God 
and of him."* " And for the anabaptists," he 
says again, '' though I have written and said so 
much against them, as I found that most of them 
were persons of zeal in religion, so many of 
them were sober, godly people, and differed 
from others, but in the point of infant baptism ; 
or at most, but in the points of predestination, 
free-will and perseverance."! Considering the 
character of controversy in those times, such a 
testimony as this reflects as much honor on 
Baxter himself, as it gives to the Baptists of 
that age. 

Undoubtedly their increasing influence must 
have been a subject of wonder, since Baxter 
found occasion to say, that many joined them 
for the sake of preferment. Baillie, a high 
Presbyterian, and a commissioner from Scotland 
to the Westminster Assembly, complained that 
they were growing more rapidly than any other 

* Sylvester's Baxter, part II, p. 240. 
tOrme's Life of Baxter, I, p. 77. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 47 

sect ill the land.* Indeed they numbered among 
them, men of the highest talents both in the 
church and the state. In the first, were Tombes, 
Jessey, and Dyke, Gosnold, Knollys and Denne,f 
who had held priestly orders in the Established 
Church ; the three first of whom were under 
Cromwell's comprehensive policy, appointed 
among the Triers of all candidates for the par- 
ish ministry of England, and the fourth was a 
popular preacher of London, having a congrega- 
tion of three thousand persons. There were also 
Collins, a pupil of Busby; De Veil, a convert 
from Judaism, who in the Romish church of 
France, and in the established church of Eng- 
land, was much respected ; Dell, a chaplain of 
Lord Fairfax, and till the Restoration, head of 
one of the Colleges in the University of Cam- 
bridge ,* and Vavasor Powell, a celebrated Evan- 
gelist of Wales, who was as devoted to the spread 
of the gospel in that principality, as were after- 
wards, Thomas Delaune, Benjamin Keach, and 
John Bunyan, in England. 

Well known among them too, were Overton,J 
a friend of Milton, who in 1651 was second in 
command under Cromwell in Scotland, Admi- 

* Baillie's Letters, I, p. 408. See Appendix, A. 

t See Appendix, B. 

t Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. IV, p. 71, Lond. ed. 1828, 



48 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

ral Penn, of the English navy, father of the 
American Colonist, Fleetwood, Cromwell's son- 
in-law, General Ludlow, a friend of Harrison, 
who endeavored to convince him of his error 
touching the Fifth Monarchy, and also the 
Chancellor of Ireland. They abounded in Crom- 
well's army, and were at one time his best 
friends, and at another, his most dreaded foes ; 
for in a letter addressed by Captain Deane, to 
Dr. Barlow, Bishop of Lincoln, it is stated that 
" what occasioned Oliver CromAvell, after he 
usurped the government of Lord Protector, to 
discharge at once, all the principal officers of his 
own regiments, upon other pretences, was, for 
that they were all Anabaptists."* These, while 
they disapproved the execution of Charles I, 
were equally opposed to the usiupation of Crom- 
well. 

It would be improper to mention so many 
names of that day, without giving place to those 
of Colonel and Mrs. Hutchinson, who were dis- 
tinguished for intellectual greatness, urbanity of 
manners and lofty piety. A manuscript on 
baptism, accidently found in the room of a sol- 
dier, met the eye of Mrs. Hutchinson. It led 
her to search the Scriptures on that subject, and 
then to embrace the sentiments of the Baptists ; 

* Quoted by Crosby, vol. II, p. 5. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 49 

but, ill the language of her memoir, " being 
then young and modest, she thought it a kind 
of virtue to submit to the judgment and prac- 
tice of most churches, rather than to defend a 
singular opinion of her own ; she not being then 
enlightened in that great mistake of the national 
churches." Her husband was led, however, to 
investigate the point, being urged by her to 
consider it with direct reference to the case of 
their infant child. He proposed his doubts to 
a large number of ministers, assembled at his 
own table, ''none of whom," says Mrs. Hutch- 
inson, " could defend their practice with any 
satisfactory reason, but the traditio7i of the 
church from the primitive times, and their main 
buckler of federal holiness, Avhich Tombes and 
Denne had excellently overthrown." He then 
asked them to say, what in their opinion, he 
ought to do ? Most of them answered, that he 
ought to conform to the custom of the church, 
though the point were not clear to him. One, 
however, said, if he acted without faith in the 
warrant of God's word, his act would be a sin. 
The consequence was, the child was not bap- 
tized, and from that day, that excellent couple 
took their stand with those whom they had 
hitherto considered as practising an enormous 
error.* Such, in that age, v/as the general free- 

* Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson, Governor of 

5 



50 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

dom of thought, so powerfully were the minds 
of men roused to religious inquiry, that people 
of other times may Avell marvel at the promptness 
with which they carried out their convictions of 
truth, even though they went athwart inveterate 
prejudices, and time hallowed customs. 

But while we are impressed with a view of 
the conscientiousness, piety and moral courage 
of the men who in those and preceding times 
united with the Baptists, we must not forget the 
fact, that with their distinguishing principle 
touching the constitution of the church, the 
doctrine of absolute liberty of conscience was 
identified. This cannot be expressed in clearer 
terms, than it is in the confession of faith, 
which Y\ras published by a number of Baptists 
in London, as early as the year 1611, under the 
reign of James I. The article on that point 
declares, " that the magistrate is not to meddle 
with religion, because Christ is the King and 
Lawgiver of the church and conscience."* 

Nottingham Castle and town ; Representative of the county 
of Nottingham in the Long Parliament, and of the town of 
Nottingham, in the First Parliament of Charles II, &c. — Vol. 
II, p. 102-4, London, 4th cd. 1822. 

* Crosby, Vol. I, app. 71. When that confession was pub- 
lished, Mr. Robinson of Leyden put forth some strictures on 
those portions of it which he deemed unsound. The article 
quoted above was one of those jwirts, and is copied from his 
transcript of it. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 51 

That confession was issued by some members 
of the church which was under the care of that 
same Mr. Smyth, whose example, it was pre- 
dicted in Plymouth, that Roger Wilhams would 
follow. Not a single sentence can be found in 
the writings of Williams himself in succeeding 
years, which sets forth that important principle 
with greater simplicity, comprehensiveness or 
force. 

Indeed, the more fully we examine the sub- 
ject, the more clearly shall we see, that in every 
age where men have studied the bible, and have 
come to the same conclusions as Roger Williams 
touching the constitution of the church, they 
have agreed with him in the doctrine of relig- 
ious liberty; that at ail periods, and in every 
comitry where there has been a sufficient degree 
of freedom to speak, together with a diffusion 
of scriptural knowledge, a class of men have 
risen up who were the avowed opponents of tra- 
dition in religiofi and ecclesiastical power i?i the 
state; that thence Roger Williams is only to be 
regarded as one of a SACRED SUCCESSION 
of men, who have derived the great idea which 
distinguished them from no source but the ora- 
cles of God, and who have been anointed by 
the Divine Spirit to be the preachers of this 
truth to the world, or called to suffer as its 
martyrs. 



52 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

With this fact in view, while the enhghtened 
christian examines the record of the past, in or- 
der to find there traces of " the true church," it 
will be well to bear in mind an important prin- 
ciple, which is thus beautifully expressed by 
Milton : 

'^ Truth, indeed, came once into the world 
with her Divine Master, and was a perfect shape, 
most glorious to look upon ; but when he as- 
cended, and his apostles after him were laid 
asleep, then strait arose a wicked race of deceiv- 
ers, who, as that story goes of that wicked 
Typhon with his conspirators, how they dealt 
with the good Osiris, took the virgin Truth, 
hewed her lovely form into a thousand pieces, 
and scattered them to the four winds. From 
that time ever since, the sad friends of Truth, 
such as durst appear, imitating the careful search 
which Isis made for the mangled body of Osiris, 
went up and down, gathering up every link still 
as they could find them. We have not yet 
found them all, Lords and Commons, nor ever 
shall do till her Master's second coming. He 
shall bring together every joint and member, 
and shall mould them into an immortal feature 
of loveliness and jDcrfection."* 

* Areopagitica, published in London, 1G44. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 53 

It was with good reason that Dr. Featley* 
declared in the middle of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, that during the reigns of Edward and Eliz- 
abeth, anabaptistry had lain like fire covered up 
in ashes. If so it was not for want of exertion 
on her part to extirpate it. Proclaiming herself 
the sovereign of the church, she felt the least 
difference of religious opinion to be an infringe- 
ment on her personal dignity. She breathed the 
spirit that reigned in the bosom of Henry VIII, 
when she replied to a petition of the House of 
Commons for church reform, "Her Majesty takes 
your petition to be against the prerogative of 
her crown. For by their full consents it hath 
been confirmed and enacted (as the truth herein 
requireth) that the full power, authority, juris- 
diction and supremacy in church causes, which 
heretofore the Popes usurped and took to them- 
selves, should be united and annexed to the 
imperial crown of this realm. ' ' It glowed in her 
soul, when in her speech to the Parliament in 
1586, she said, '' there be some fault finders with 
the order of the clergy, which so, may make a 
slander to myself and the church, whose over- 

* This gentleman was a Presbyterian and a zealous contro- 
versialist. In 1644, he entreated " the most noble Lords," that 
Milton might be cut off "as a pestilent Anabaptist." The poet 
was cited to appear before the House of Lords to give an ac- 
count of his principles. 

5* 



54 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

ruler God hath made me ; whose negUgence 
camiot be excused, if any schisms or errors he- 
retical were suffered. All which if you my Lords 
of the clergy do not amend, I mean to depose 
you."* We need not wonder therefore at the 
fact that in the latter part of her reign an act 
was passed, ordering all Anabaptists to leave the 
country, under penalty of imprisonment or con- 
fiscation of property. This decree shows that 
they existed in England to a considerable extent, 
which confirms what is stated by Dr. Some, 
who wrote against the Puritans in 1589, '^ that 
there were several Anabaptistical Conventicles 
in London and other places," and that '' some 
persons of these sentiments had been at the uni- 
versities." It is highly probable, therefore, that 
a large number of the learned Puritans who left 
the national church, carried out their principles 
to this conclusion. The opinions with which 
Dr. Some charges them are precisely the same 
as those for which Roger Williams suffered, 
namely, " that the ministers of the gospel ought 
to be mEuntained by the voluntary contributions 
of the people — that the civil power has no right 
to make or impose ecclesiastical laws — that the 
high commission court was an anti-christian 



* Hansard's parliamentary History, Vol. I, 834. Strype' 
Life of Whitgift, I, 494. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 55 

usurpation — that those who are quaUfied to 
teach ought not to be burthened by the civil 
power — that though the Lord's prayer be a rule 
and foundation of prayer, yet it is not to be used 
as a form, and that no forms of prayer ought to 
be imposed on the church — ^that the baptism 
administered by the Church of Rome is invalid 
— that a true constitution and discipline are es- 
sential to a true church, and that the worship 
of God in the estabhshed church is in many 
things defective." 

It is worthy of note, that archbishop Whit- 
gift's charges against the Baptists are of precise- 
ly the same character, while at the same time 
he observes, that their influence among the peo- 
ple was increased by their appearance of extra- 
ordinary piety.* If, as has been said, Roger 
Williams was far in advance of his age, how 
much more were these men in advance of 
theirs. Their doctrine of human liberty they 
learned from no school of political philosophy, 
nor discovered it by any superior sagacity of 
their own, but it was an article of their religious 
faith^ received directly from that ''word Avhich 
giveth understanding to the simple." 

* Slrype's Life of Whitgift. This prelate, of an intolerant 
lordly spirit, was truly after Queen Elizabeth's own heart, 
and Strype says she used to pun upon his name, calling hira 
««herWhite.gift." 



56 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

About 1575, in the eighteenth year of Ehza- 
beth, the fires of Smithfield were rekindled. 
Two Dutch Baptists, John Wielmaker and 
Henry Ter Woort, were condemned to be burnt 
there. In regard to this, an eloquent letter in 
the Latin language was addressed to the Queen, 
by John Fox, the martyrologist of the Church of 
England, in order to dissuade her from such an 
act of cruelty. In it he says, " there are ex- 
communications and close imprisonments ; there 
are bonds ; there is perpetual banishment, burn- 
ing of the hand and whipping, or even slavery 
itself. This one thing I most earnestly beg, 
that the flames of Smithfield, so long ago extin- 
guished by your happy governments, may not 
be again revived."* This appeal had no eifect on 
the heart of Elizabeth, except to gain a month's 
reprieve, at the end of which as they refused to 
recant, these men were led forth from their pris- 
on to an honorable martyrdom. 

During the preceding reign of Mary, the Bap- 
tists, no doubt, among the other sufferers, had 
their share of trial. She is often by protestants 
called the '' bloody Mary," though it may well 
be questioned whether, as to her real character, 
she deserved to have that epithet attached to 
her name, any more than her father Henry, or 

* Fuller, b. 9, p. 104, § 13. London, 1656. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 57 

her sister Elizabeth. True, her spirit weis fierce 
and intolerant ; but so was their's. She, how- 
ever, was surrounded with every incentive to 
persecution ; for, in addition to her veneration 
for the Romish church, she was prompted by a 
sense of personal honor. She knew that her 
father's secession from the see of Rome, was not 
for the sake of conscience, but from the impulse 
of lawless passion. With her, protestantism Avas 
not the cause of religion, but the cause of Anne 
Boleyn ; and Catholicism was not only the cause 
of religion, but the cause of her repudiated and 
dishonored mother. Before coming to the throne 
she had been closely watched, denied the mass, 
and the privilege of worship according to her 
wishes. Who can wonder then, at the rebound 
of her spirit when the day of her power came, 
associated as the whole subject of controversy 
was with mere family bickering ; a fact gloried 
in at Rome to this day, where is exhibited at 
the Vatican library, on the one hand, Henry's 
defence of popery, and on the other, his love 
letters to Anne Boleyn, written from Rome at 
the time he was seeking a divorce from Catha- 
rine of Arragon. 

A striking instance of the persecuting spirit of 
Mary's reign, is mentioned by Spanheim, who 
says that Daniel George, of Delft, in Holland, 
died in London, and was honorably interred in 



58 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

St. Lawrence's church. Three years after, it 
was discovered that he was an anabaptist ; then 
his corpse was disinterred and burnt, his picture 
was also burnt, and his followers were sought 
after v/ith the most rigid scrutiny. At that time 
too, a society of persons, whom Brandt denomi- 
nates in his History of the Reformation,* the 
low-country exiles, was broken up, and after a 
northern journey, found several congregations of 
Baptists at Wismar. 

One of the mildest and most religious princes 
that ever sat on the English throne, was the 
brother of Mary, Edward YI ,• and one of the 
most touching spectacles presented to us in 
English history, is that of this young monarch in 
tears, arguing with Cranmer against the neces- 
sity of signing the death-warrant of Joan Bo- 
cher, commonly called Joan of Kent. She was 
a Baptist, a pious and useful woman. " She 
was," says Strype, " a great disperser of Tyn- 
dal's New Testament, and was a great reader 
of scripture herself; which book also, she dis- 
persed in the court, and so became known to 
certain women of quality, and was particularly 
acquainted with Mrs. Anne Askew. She used 
for greater secresy to tie the books with strings 
under her apparel, and so pass with them into 

* Vol. I. b. IV. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 59 

the court."* As Cranmer was insisting on her 
death, he was deeply affected with the reply of 
the young King, who said, '' if I do wrong, since 
it is in submission to your authority, you shall 
answer it before God." But neither the argu- 
ments of justice, the plea of mercy, or the tears 
of youthful royalty could avail to stay the hand 
of a bigotry, which in such cases, extinguished 
all the sympathies of human nature. 

From some remarks of Sir James Mackintosh, 
it seems to be a clear point, that though the 
Baptists suffered from persecution in the reign of 
Edward VI, yet the Papists were comparatively 
free. '' The fact," he says, '' that the blood of 
no Roman Catholic was spilt on account of 
religion in Edward's reign, is indisputable."! 

It is said by Bishop Burnet, that none of the 
events of this reign tended so much to injure 
Cranmer, as the part he took in the burning of 
George Van Pare, a Dutch Baptist. His manly 
virtue, his consistent piety, his serenity at the 
stake, won the sympathies of the people, so that 
when Cranmer himself was burnt in Mary's 
reign, " they called it a just retaliation." 

From Bishop Burnet, we learn that in 1549 
there were many Anabaptists in England, who 

» Strype's Ecc'l Mem. vol. II, p. 214. 

t Mackintosh's History of England, II, 271, 318. 



60 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

had fled from Germany. ^' They held, that 
infant baptism was no baptism, and so were 
rebaptized. "* Many books were written against 
them ; but in 1550, they were denied the mer- 
cy which was dispensed to others ; for '^ last of 
all," says Burnet, " came the King's general 
pardon, out of which those in the tower or other 
prisons on account of the State, as also all Ana- 
baptists were excepted."! This is very similar 
to what took place in the preceding reign, when 
the Baptists were excluded from the act of 
grace, published by Henry VIII, under whose 
direction too, in 1536, was issued the national 
creed, approved by " the whole clergy of the 
realm," declaring that '' infants must needs be 
christened, because they be born in original sin, 
which sin must needs be remitted, which cannot 
be done, but by the sacrament of baptism, 
whereby they receive the Holy Ghost, which 
exerciseth the grace and efficacy in them, and 
cleanseth and purifieth them by his most se- 
cret virtue and operation." Is it not remark- 
able that the Baptists of that day were the chief 
defenders of the doctrine of infant salvation, as 
it is now held, and drew down on their heads 

* Burnet, II, p. 143. 

t History of the Reformation abridged, p. 13. History of 
the Reformation, II, p. 143. London, 1750. Sec Strypc, M. 
II, 1, 369. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 61 

the thunders of the hierarchy, because they 
made no distinction ^' between the infant of a 
Christian and a Turk," but said that all might 
be saved without baptism ? 

We have already noticed a fact connected 
with the dissemination of TyndaPs translation 
of the scriptures in England. No man of his 
times did more than he, to break the power of 
tradition over the human mind, by rousing a 
spirit of inquiry, and exalting God's word as the 
only rule of a christian's faith. Coming from 
the borders of Wales, where the spirit of Wick- 
liffe still lingered, he seemed to be clothed with 
that spirit as with a garment, and to walk in the 
light of that morning star of the reformation. 
Firm in the belief that the bible in itself pos- 
sessed the redeeming principle which was needed 
to renovate a benighted and worldly church, 
and charmed with the beauty of truth in its own 
simplicity, he contemplated with grief the state 
of Christendom ] while he was musing the fire 
burned, and he was possessed with a zeal which 
mocked resistance, to spread through his coun- 
try the gospel of Christ in the vernacular tongue. 
He fell a martyr in the best of causes, being 
burnt as a heretic in Flanders, in 1532, while 
preparing a new edition of the bible. Although 
we know of no instance of Tyndal's immersing 
any on a profession of their faith, yet it is certain 



62 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

that in his writings he set that distinctly forth 
as the true baptism which the scriptures incul- 
cate.* 

Although the Baptists of that age had no his- 
torian of their own, and the allusions to them by 
various writers are tinctured with prejudice, yet 
sufftcient evidence of their number and their 
power exists, in the declarations of their oppo- 
nents, and the edicts of courts. The testimony 
of a man like Bishop Latimer, ought not to be 
overlooked, who in a sermon before Edward VI, 
referring to the Baptists of the preceding reign, 
said, " they who were burnt here in divers 
parts of England, as I heard of credible men, (I 
saw them not myself, ) went to their death even 
intrepid as ye will say, without any fear in the 
world, cheerfully. Then I have to tell you 
what I heard of late, by the relation of a cred- 
ible person and worshipful man, of a town of 
this realm of England, that hath above five 
hundred heretics of this erroneous opinion in it 
as he said."f 

A fact like this must strengthen very much 
the position of those Avho say that a large pro- 



* The obedience of all degrees proved by God's worde, im. 
printed by Wyllyam Copland, at London, 1561. See Appen- 
dix C. 

i Crosby, vol. I, p. 62. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 63 

portion of the followers of WicklifFe and the 
Lollards were Baptists. Certain it is, that the 
writings of Wickliife were soon carried into Bo- 
hemia, and quickened the spirit of reform which 
was glowing in the bosoms of Jerome of Prague, 
and John Huss. A letter written from that 
country to Erasmus in 1519, directly states that 
the followers of Huss received no rule of faith 
but the bible, and admitted none into their 
communion but those who had been immersed, 
rejecting at the same time the rites and ceremo- 
nies of the church. Indeed, the council which 
condemned Wickliffe, convened at Blackfriars 
in 1382, accused him of saying that the infants 
of believers could be saved without baptism, and 
'' that none were members of the church visible, 
who did not appear to be members of the chmch 
invisible ; and that none had a right to church 
membership who did not make a public profes- 
sion, and profess obedience to Christ." Various 
protestant and catholic writers agree in saying 
explicitly that Wickliffe rejected infant baptism, 
and thence support the opinion that his senti- 
ments were the same as those of the modern 
Baptists. Starck, court preacher at Darmstadt, 
in his History of Baptism, says, as the Bohe- 
mians who were WicklifRtes, rejected infant 
baptism, it is probable that he did so himself.* 

* Starck's History of Baptism, Leipsic, 1789, p. 117. 



64 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

During this long period, including the rise of 
WicklifFe and the Reformation, while the Bap- 
tists were thus suffering in Great Britain, there 
were not wanting those on the continent of Eu- 
rope who avowed the same opinions, and braved 
the like hazards. While in England many of 
them were suffering the loss of all things, among 
whom was Sawtry, the first English martyr, 
their principles were at work in other lands. 
Opposed as they were to the existing system of 
making the baptismal register an instrument of 
state police, in 1528, the Senate of Zurich 
issued an edict against rebaptization, under the 
penalty of being drowned. Two years before 
that, a man was drowned at Zurich for the same 
offence. It was Felix Manz, of noble family, 
who, together with Grebel, first originated a 
Baptist Society at Zurich, and both are said, 
by Meshovius, a catholic writer, to have been 
men of extensive learning.* About the same 
time, there were public discussions on that sub- 
ject in Switzerland, between Oecolampadius and 
some Baptist teachers at Basle, and also between 
others of the same faith, and the ministers of the 
established church at Berne. Even Zuinglius, 
at one time, avowed his conviction that the sen- 



* Meshovius, lib. II, c. I. Apud Gill, vol. II, p. 272. Lon- 
don, 1773. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 65 

timents of the Baptists were true. They were 
broached at Wittenberg in 1522, and made a fa- 
vorable impression on the mind of Melancthon.* 
Luther made a powerful effort to save his amia- 
ble friend from their influence, and afterwards 
procured the banishment of Carlostadt and several 
others, for maintaining principles so obnoxious to 
the ruling powers, and which he thought would 
endanger the progress of the reformation. " I 
confess," says Dr. Haweis, " I have always hon- 
ored Carlostadt. In learning, he was Luther's 
equal ; in some of his opinions respecting the 
eucharist, more scriptural, and only beneath him 
in a commanding popularity of address. The 
obstinacy of Luther's character is indefensible. 
He claimed the authority to dictate, which he 
was himself so averse to allow the Pope. Let us 
drop a tear over human infirmity, learn by expe- 
rience to bear and forbear, and remember always 
that the best of men are but men at best."f 

From the evidence which history furnishes 
of the extensive spread of Baptist sentiments, it 
needs no comment of ours to show the absurdity 
of a statement which has been often repeated, 

* See Appendix D. 

t History of the Revival and Progress of the Church of 
Christ, &c. By Rev. T. Haweis, LL. B. and M. D., Rector 
of All-Saints, Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire. Worcester ed. 
1803, p. 29, 34. 

6* 



66 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

that the Baptist denomination in Europe, origi- 
nated in the movements of some fanatics in Mun- 
ster, a city of WestphaUa, in the early part of the 
sixteenth century. It might task our ingenuity 
or our charity to account for this, did we not 
know that even men well versed in history, 
seldom take much trouble to ascertain the truth 
of ill reports touching a despised or dreaded sect ; 
a truth illustrated by the fact, that for many 
years in a neighboring state, the name of Roger 
Williams was but little known, except as an 
anabaptist, an opposer of government, and a dis- 
turber of the public peace. Bishop Burnet 
however, candidly acknowledges that the Bap- 
tists have been unjustly injured, by being iden- 
tified with the men who engaged in the pohtical 
disturbances of Munster. He attributes the rise 
of the Baptists in Germany, to their carrying 
out the principles of Luther, regarding the suffi- 
ciency of the Scriptures, and the rights of private 
judgment ; * and in this the Catholic writers 
agree with him, who charge Luther with being 
the father of the German Baptists, and say that 
when he persecuted them, " he let out the life 
of his own cause."! They themselves declared 
that they learned their principles from that great 

* Burnet's History of Reformation, II, 176. 
t Robinson's Ecc'l Researches, p. 543. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 67 

reformer ; an assertion which reminds us of 
the fact, that Melancthon confessed that Luther 
and he were here attacked in a " weak point," 
and in reviewing the whole matter said, " the 
questions concerning baptism affected me, and 
in my opinion not without good reason."* 

Tlie truth is, the revolution at Munster arose 
from two causes. First, the galling slavery of 
the feudal system which pressed sorely on the 
peasants ; secondly, the spirit of liberty which 
the writings of Luther had done much to arouse, 
and which was diff'used among the people of the 
country, by the preaching of Thomas Muncer, 
a Baptist Minister, who had been a parish priest, 
and afterwards, a disciple of Luther. The ex- 
ample of Luther too, must have had a powerful 
effect. Had he not kindled a fire near Witten- 
berg, assembled ten thousand people of all orders, 
publicly burnt the Pope's decree and the ca- 
nons of the church, and been declared by the 
Emperor and Princes, an enemy of the holy 
Roman empire ? Even peasants groaning under 
civil bondage, could reason from such an exam- 
ple, tending as it did to elicit those latent sparks 
of love to liberty, which lie deeply hidden in 
the bosoms of the multitude. Nevertheless, the 
troubles at Munster were commenced in 1532, 

* Planck's History of Protestant Theology, Vol. II, p, 47. 



68 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

by Bernard Rotman, a Lutheran minister, not a 
Baptist.* Some months after, the peasants were 
in arms ; Mmicer drew up for them their mani- 
festo of twelve articles, copies of which were 
presented to the princes, scattered through Ger- 
many, setting forth in a convincing maimer, the 
justice of their cause, and has drawn from 
Voltaire an eloquent eulogium.f It is said that 
at the close of it, they appealed to Luther, 
who answered by showing that a state of servi- 
tude is not inconsistent with religion, and that 
their complaints against tythes, indicated a wish 
to annihilate civil government. J The army of 
the peasants was composed of men of various 
characters, among whom were the most ignorant 
and wild fanatics ; but no denomination of 
christians is responsible for their proceedings, 
nor even Luther himself, who did more than 
any other man, to rouse those spirits, which at 
last, no earthly power could control. 

During the long night which preceded the 
rise of Wickliffe, the general ignorance was so 
great, that few thought for themselves. The 
Papal government was then in the height of its 
power, and among the nations which lay beneath 

* Dr. Gill's Collections, vol. II, 271. 

t Additions to General History, vol. 30. See Appendix E. 

t Robinson's Ecc'l Researches, p. 552. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 69 

the shadow of its wings, scarcely one durst peep 
or mutter. Still the light of primitive Christian- 
ity was not entirely extinguished, nor the spirit 
of inquiry utterly crushed. Here and there it 
would now and then break forth, not only awak- 
ening hope amongst the oppressed, but spread- 
ing alarm amongst the powerful ; 

" For though the structure of a tyrant's throne, 
Rise on the necks of half the suffering world, 
Fear trembles in the cement." 

If we look any where for the exhibition of an 
uncorrupt Christianity, the brightest spots to be 
found are the valleys of Piedmont, and of Wales. 
Among the former, secluded from the world, 
lived men remarkable for their simple manners 
and their pure faith, who never acknowledged 
the dominion of Rome. They were called 
Waldenses and Albigenses ; they existed in dif- 
ferent societies, but were generally distinguished 
for their love of religious liberty, and with sin- 
gleness of heart opposed the authority of the 
bible to human tradition. Archbishop Usher 
considers them as constituting some of the links 
in that chain of apostolic succession, which was 
with him an important and a favorite subject. 
Occasionally advocates of their sentiments ap- 
peared in different countries. As some independ- 
ent and powerful mind would study their doc- 
trines and catch their spirit, and thence proceed 



70 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

to give them free expression, all society would be 
moved, and a new proof would be furnished of the 
power of truth to make its way amidst the great- 
est obstacles. About the year 131.5, (in the 
Avords of Fuller, an English historian,) Walter 
Lollard, that German preacher, or as Peter Perin 
calls him in his history of the Waldenses, one of 
their barbs, (or pastors,) came into England, a 
man in great renown among them ; and who was 
so eminent in England, that, as in France, they 
were called Berengarians, from Berengarius, and 
Petrobrusians, from Peter Bruis, and in Italy and 
Flanders, Arnoldists, from the famous Arnold of 
Brescia; so did the Waldensian christians for 
many generations after, bear the name of this 
worthy man, being called Lollards." 

At the time when Cromwell held the balance 
of power in Europe, an event occurred which 
engaged his warmest s^^mpathy in behalf of the 
Waldenses of Piedmont, '^ who," says Godwin, 
" were regarded as having entertained the prin- 
ciples of the reformed religion before Luther, 
and as never having bowed the neck to the 
Roman Catholic superstition."* By an edict of 
the Duke of Savoy, they were commanded to 
adhere to the Catholic faith. They refused, 
and a dreadful persecution followed. The news 

* Godwin's Commonwealth, vol. 4, p. 205. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 71 

touched the heart of Cromwell, roused that love 
of liberty which had been the presiding principle 
of his conduct until after the battle of Worces- 
ter when ambition turned him, and led him to 
utter the memorable sentence, that " God regards 
the right of conscience, and authority over it, 
to belong to himself alone . ' ' With characteristic 
energy, he immediately despatched Sir Samuel 
Morland, under-secretary to Thmioe, to Turin, 
and sent letters to France and other powers, 
demanding redress.* 

Morland having executed his mission, wrote 
a history of these victims of persecution, in 
which he presents a most affecting picture of 
their faith and suffering. Lovers of scriptural 
simplicity, nothing could induce them to submit 
to the authority of Rome. Their history was 
also written by Ghesannion,f a Frenchman, who 
denies what had been said by some, that they 
rejected the sacrament of baptism, but says, 
•' they only counted it unnecessary to infants, 
because they are not of age to believe nor capa- 
ble of giving evidence of their faith." This 
remark however, is not of universal application ; 
some of them practised infant baptism, but a 

* Jones's Ch. His. vol. II, p. 322. 

t Jones spells his name Chassagnon ; Crosby, Chassanian ; 
Ivimey, Chessanion. 



72 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

large portion of them rejected it as a human 
invention. 

One of the most recent and celebrated works 
in Ecclesiastical History which has appeared on 
the continent of Europe, is by M. De Potter, 
who, in a compendious account of these people, 
says, they called the Pope antichrist, opposed 
the payment of tythes, abolished the distinctions 
in the priesthood, denied the authority of coun- 
cils, rejected all the ceremonies of baptism except 
simple ablution, and laying stress on the truth 
that in infancy there can be no actual conversion 
to the christian faith, they therefore baptized 
anew all those who left the Romish Church, 
wishing to embrace their doctrines. 

They asserted that the efficacy of sacraments 
depended on the character of the recipient, that 
the sanctification of the bread and the wine took 
place in the mouth of the worthy communicant 
and not in the hands of the priest who conse- 
crated the elements without possessing the pu- 
rity demanded by his office — that an honest 
layman had more power to absolve the faithful 
from their sins than a bad priest, that the wor- 
ship of God consisted more in practical virtues 
than in ceremonies, that a priest who set himself 
up for a mediator between heaven and men, 
offended God, dishonored religion, and degraded 
himself. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 73 

They rejected the doctrine that marriage is a 
sacrament ; denied that the church had the right 
to ordain celibacy for her ministers ; refused to 
worship saints and relics, saying that God only 
is to be adored ; abohshed the customs of the 
church touching hoHdays, altars, masses, relig- 
ious chants, bells, pontifical ornaments, images— 
the worship of which appeared to them as idol- 
atry ; and wax tapers, for which they said God 
had given no command. In a word, they rejected 
every thing lohich they did not find enjoined in 
the gospel, and the sacred scriptures. Thence, 
moreover, they condemned prayers for the dead,' 
indulgences, pilgrimages, the doctrine of purga- 
tory, admitting only a heaven and a hell, and 
prohibited oaths, allowing only simple affirm- 
ation."* 

In surveying ecclesiastical history, it is inter- 
esting to see how the faith of this people, having 
found an asylum amidst the rocks and moun- 
tains, the dens and caves of the earth, would 
thence go forth to extend its influence even unto 
high places. In the year 1215, this fact became 
a matter of complaint to the Pope by the Bishop 
of Aries, who said that some heretics had taught 
there, that it was to no purpose to baptize chil- 
dren, since they could have no forgiveness of 



* De Potter, vol. VI, p. 405. See Appendix, 
7 



74 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

sins thereby, no faith, no charity." In that year 
the Lateran Council, under Innocent III, decreed 
that "the sacrament of baptism performed in 
water with invocation of the Trinity, is prof- 
itable for salvation, both to adult persons and 
also to infants, by whomsoever administered in 
the form of the church."* That Pope himself 
declared that " unless the sword of the faithful 
extirpated the Waldenses, their doctrine would 
soon corrupt all Europe."! 

In the time of Henry II, some of them 
appeared in England, and in the year 1160, a 
council was summoned at Oxford to examine 
them. "When asked who they were," says 
Rapin, " they answered that they were christians 
and followers of the apostles."t " From the acts 
of this council we learn," says De Potter, " that 
these publicani (as they were called) were spread 
abroad extensively in France, Spain, Italy and 
Germany, and on account of the lenity shown 
to them, had multiplied like the sand of the sea, 
and at last had come to penetrate even into Eng- 
land. They were about thirty persons, as many 
men as women, all Germans, and were living 



* Opera Innocent tertii, tome 2, p. 776. Apud Wall. voL 
II, 242. Ed. London, 1720. 

t Spanheim's Ecc'l. Annals. London, 1829. 

X Rapin's Hist, of Eng. I, 350. Ed. Lend, folio, 1732. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 75 

under the direction of one named Gerard, who 
alone among them had received some education, 
and spoke various languages. He was orthodox 
in his opinions touching the divinity, but he 
rejected the sacraments, especially the baptism 
of infants, the eucharist (transubstantiation) and 
the marriage of the catholics, (that is as a sacra- 
ment). They were banished from Oxford, and 
no one was allowed to receive them, or render 
them the least assistance. These unhappy be- 
ings wandered through the country without 
finding an asylum, and as it was a very rigorous 
season, they perished from hunger and cold. 
This pious severity, says William of Newbridge, 
purged England of so pestilential a heresy."* 

There is reason to think that in the middle of 
the twelfth century, congregations of Walden- 
sian Baptists were gathered in Switzerland and 
France, under the name of Apostlici, for in the 
year 1147, we find Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 
complaining against the Earl of St. Gyles for 
favoring one of their noted teachers, named 
Henry, who is charged with '' hindering infants 
from the life of Christ, the grace of baptism 
being denied them."t This Henry was a friend 
of the celebrated Peter de Briiis, and was truly 

* Guilelm. Nubrigcns, quoted by De Potter, vol. 6, 391. 
t Mosheim, Cent. XII, Part II, Chap. 5, §8. 



76 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

a kindred spirit. He held private assemblies, 
to whom he taught his doctrines, which were 
distinguished by nothing peculiar, except his 
entire rejection of infant baptism, the authority^ 
and ceremonies of the Church of Rome. Ber- 
nard, who became famous as a crusade preacher, 
having procured the condemnation of Abelard, 
the distinguished advocate of Free Inquiry,"^ 
proceeded at length to attack Henry and his 
adherents in a most bitter and calumnious spirit. 
His object at last was gained ; for in about 1148, 
his victim died in prison. Both Henry and 
Peter de Bruis were simple hearted christians, 
zealous teachers, bold reprovers of the corrupt 
morals of the papal clergy, and standing together 
against a host of opponents, counted not their 
lives dear for the sake of truth. f Peter was 
burned to death at St. Gyles, in the year 1150. 
The sentiments of these two men concerning 
baptism, were alike ; for of the latter, Mosheim 
observes, "it is certain that one of his tenets 
was, that no persons whatever, were to be bap- 
tized before they came to the full use of reason. J 

* Guizot, History of Civilization, p. 165. N. Y. Ed. 1838. 

t " Like Peter de Bruis and Henry, the Waldenses were free 
from all heresies of opinion, and sought only to restore an 
apostolic purity of practice." Gicseler, II, 376. Phil. ed. 
1836. 

X Mosheim, Cent. XII, p. 2, c. 5, §7. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. / 7 

But there was another, who with these, 
formed a trio of heroic and devout defenders of 
the primitive faith, another, whose name should 
be embalmed in the memory of every friend of 
religion and of man ; I mean, Arnold of Brescia, 
also a disciple of Peter de Bruis. This very 
year seven centuries are completed, since his 
condemnation by the Lateran Council, and in 
sixteen years afterwards, his execution occurred 
at Rome, where his body was burned, and the 
ashes were cast into the Tiber. He was at first 
a reader of the church at Brescia, then travelled 
in France where he studied with the famous 
Abelard, and became one of the most profound 
scholars and eloquent preachers of Italy.* His 
voice was first heard in the streets of Brescia, 
declaiming against the wealth and licentiousness 
of the established clergy ; and from attacking 
them, he proceeded to reason against the union 
of church and state, infant baptism, and transub- 
stantiation. The Pope branded his opinions 
with the name of " heresy of the politicians," 
and banishing him from Italy, he fled to Switz- 
erland, where he taught the people of Zurich 
to frame a free constitution. Ere long, however, 
he boldly resolved to plant the standard of 
reform in the very heart of Rome. Yindicating 



* Dr. Allix, churches of Piedmont, p. 171. 

7* 



78 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

the spirituality of the church, rehgious Uberty, 
and the rights of the people, he uttered "thoughts 
that breathed and words that burned ;" the city 
was roused, many nobles joined his cause, and 
the doctrines of reform prevailed. Rome again 
heard, says Sismondi, "the words Roman re- 
public, Roman senate, comitia of the people."* 
The change which followed, was the most 
remarkable event of the twelfth century. The 
civil power of the Pope was suspended. " He 
is but your bishop," said Arnold to the Romans; 
" let him therefore have spiritual jurisdiction. 
The government of Rome, its civil establish- 
ments and territories belong to you." Propo- 
sitions to this effect were made to the Pope. 
Innocent II died of mortification at Arnold's 
success. The succeeding Popes, Celestine and 
Lucius, reigned but a short time, and could do 
nothing to re-establish the papal power. The 
senators then refused to accord in the consecra- 
tion of Eugenius III, unless he would assent to 
the separation of the spiritual from civil juris- 
diction, on which account he withdrew from 
Rome, and was consecrated in a neighboring 
fortress. He was succeeded by Adrian IV, into 
whose hands Arnold was delivered by the inter- 
position of the German Emperor. His principles 

* Sismondi's History of Italian Republics, p. 33. Lend. 
1832. Encyclopedia Britannica, article Arnold. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 79 

long survived him, and Arnoldist, became another 
name for a friend of liberty and rehgion. 

The wide extent to which sentiments similar 
to those of Arnold of Brescia had spread, may- 
be learned from a celebrated letter, which was 
written in the year 1140, and which Dr. Allix has 
translated. He says,* ^' Mabillon has preserved 
the letter of Evervinus Preepositus, of Stein- 
field, in the diocess of Cologne. Evervinus 
first describes a class manichaeans ; then another 
order of heretics. These latter, he charges with 
denying, 1st, that the body of Christ is made on 
the altar, 2d, asserting that the apostolical dig- 
nity had been lost by the wickedness of the 
priesthood, 3d, denying the sacraments, except 
baptism, which they give only to those who are 
come of age, alleging that place of the gospel, 
'' whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved ; "4th, rejecting the mediation of saints, 
5th, the virtue of fasting, 6th, denying the 
doctrine of Purgatory, and, 7th, asserting this 
great principle, "all other things observed in 
the church, which have not been established by 
Christ himself or his Apostles, they call super- 
stitious."! After calling on St. Bernard to aid 

* Page 145. 

t This letter of Evervinus, may be found, in the Latin lan- 
guage, in Gieseler's Ecclesiastical History, vol. II, p. 360, 



80 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

in resisting these mischievous principles, he says, 
" I let you know also, that those of them who 
have returned to our church, told us, that they 
had great numbers of their persuasion scattered 
almost every where, and that amongst them, 
were many of our clergy and monks ; and as 
for those who were burnt, they in the defence 
they made for themselves, told us, that this their 
heresy, had been concealed froin the times of the 
martiirs until noio^ and that it had been pre- 
served in Greece and some other countries."* 
Who is not struck with admiration at the 
thought, that the hand of Providence should 
have brought down to these days, so clear a 
testimony to the characters of those faithful 
ones, who, in ages of the grossest superstition, 
never bowed their knees at the shrines of papal 
idolatry ? Here we have the testimony of a 
learned ecclesiastic, given seven centuries ago, 
that men, who, Ave know, if they were now liv- 
ing would be called by our name, declared in 



note. In his text, however, Gieseler does not, like AULx, mark 
the distinction which Evervinus makes between these two 
orders of heretics. The latter class were Orthodox Baptists. 
When it is said, that they denied all the sacraments except 
baptism, it must be remembered that the catholics have seven 
sacraments, and they considered a man as giving up the 
Lord's Supper, if he denied transubstantiation. 
* Dr. AllLx, p. 143. Lond. Ed. 1690. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 81 

their own behalf with their dying breath, that 
they had broached no innovation^ bnt held those 
principles which had been handed down from 
the age of primitive Christianity. Here the 
persecutors, the apostates, and the martyrs, unite 
ixi leaving a memorial in honor of '^ a great cloud 
of witnesses, of whom the world was not wor- 
thy." 

Prom facts like these, it is clear that those 
have reason for their opinion, Avho say that the 
Baptists may trace the history of their senti- 
ments through the old Waldensian churches. 
Mosheim, who was far from having any bias in 
favor of such a position, justly observes, that 
before the rise of Luther and Calvin, there lay 
concealed in almost all the countries of Europe, 
persons who adhered tenaciously to the princi- 
ples of the modern Dutch Baptists.* The va- 
rious representations given of the Waldenses by 
different writers, may be easily accounted for, if 
we remember that perfect liberty of conscience 
was cherished amongst them, that they wor- 
shipped not the idol of uniformity, and that 
they furnished a shelter, as far as they could, 
for all dissenters who were persecuted by the 
established church. f Their opponents not only 

* Ecc'l History, Cent. XVI, sect. Ill, P. II, c. 3, § 2. 
t Robinson's Ecclesiastical Researches, p. 440. 



82 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

followed them with menaces and groundless 
calumnies, but distorted the confessions which 
they made under the influence of intimidation. 
But the most learned historians of Europe are 
setting this point in a clearer light ; and touch- 
ing it, I quote a name of high authority when I 
mention that of Starck, court preacher at Darm- 
stadt, who says in his history of baptism, that 
" if instead of looking only at particular confes- 
sions, we follow out their general mode of 
thinking, we find that they not only rejected 
infant baptism, but rebaptized those who passed 
from the Catholic church to them, and that 
although the anabaptists held a connexion with 
Munzer, Storck, Grebel, Stubner, and Keller, 
the Waldenses were their predecessors."* 
A century before Arnold of Brescia, Berenga- 
rius, Archdeacon of Angiers, and Bruno, his 
Bishop, made some attempts at reformation. It 
is evident that their efforts excited much atten- 
tion, and spread a feeling of alarm amongst the 
clergy. The Bishop of Liege wrote to Henry 
I, King of France, saying, '' there is a report 
come out of France, and which goes through all 
Germany, that these two do maintain that the 
Lord's body (the host) is not the body, but a 

* Starck's History of Baptism, p. 115, 118. Lcipsic, 1789. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 83 

shadow or figure of the Lord's body ;* and that 
they do disannul lawful marriages, and as far as 
in them lies, overthrow the baptism of infants."! 
About the same time, too, it is evident that the 
spirit of nonconformity was abroad in Italy, for 
according to Dr. Allix, D'Achery informs us, 
that in 1025, a Synod was held at Arras, by 
Gerard, Bishop of Cambray and Arras, to examine 
some disciples of Gundulphus, whose doctrines 
had spread into the diocess of Liege and Cam- 
bray, in the low countries. It appears that they 
rejected all authority in religion except that of 
Christ and the Apostles, and all the peculiarities 
of the Romish church. The Bishop said, the 
reason these men gave for rejecting infant bap- 
tism was this : '' Because to an infant that neither 
wills nor runs^ that knows nothing of faith, 
is ignorant of its own salvation and welfare, in 
whom there can be no desire of regeneration or 
confession, the will, faith and confession of 
another, seem not in the least to appertain. "J 
Such a mode of reasoning on the ground of 
religious faith, apart from the authority of the 

* Luther held to consubstantiation. He therefore regarded 
Berengarius aa a heretic, while the disciples of Calvin praised 
him.— Gieseler's Ecc'l Hist. II, p. 111. 

tWall, II, 21G. Allix, 123. 

X The great stress laid by the Romanists on baptism, prob. 
ably led some of them to disregard it entirely. Sec Allix, 95. 



84 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

church, was not at all in keeping with the spirit 
of that age, and it shows that there were men 
who would have purilied and elevated the 
national mind, had it not been for that alliance 
between the Church and the State, which was 
designed to crush in the germ every undertaking 
which looked toward the improvement of the 
people. 

Such was the state of nonconformity in 
Italy. They had good reason for saying that 
they introduced no innovation ; for apart from 
the proofs which they might have brought 
from their own country, there are for us, strong 
corresponding ones in Wales, where there is 
good reason to believe that the gospel was intro- 
duced as early as the year 63, and where it was 
preserved in a great degree free from the cor- 
ruptions of Romanism. In the year 596, when 
Austin was sent into England by that most pol- 
itic and ambitious Pope, Gregory VII, he found 
it much easier to bring the Pagan Saxons to his 
terms, than the old British bishops. It would 
be a natural supposition that as Constantino was 
himself of British origin, and had promoted 
Christianity in his own country with royal mu- 
nificence, that religion must have deteriorated 
from its primitive simplicity. Nevertheless, 
Austin found it in a state of comparative purity, 
for the British bishops of that day, were like 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 85 

those of whom Dupin speaks, at an earlier 
period, who were freely supported by their breth- 
ren, and who would have deemed it beneath 
them to accept of the Emperor's allowance.* 
The demands which Austin made of them, shed 
some light on their condition, and need no 
comment. They were these ; first, they should 
keep Easter after the Romish manner ,• and 
secondly, that they should give cliristendome 
to children, TJiey abjured his authority, and 
refused compliance, although he endeavored to 
dazzle them with a miracle. Austin was in- 
censed, and threatened to enforce his demands 
with the sword ; a menace which was after- 
wards put in execution against a class of men, 
whose most heinous fault in the sight of Rome, 
was a desire to preserve their religious freedom, 
to maintain the spirituality of the church, and 
to keep it independent of the state. 

I trust no apology is necessary for my thu^ 
causing to pass in review before you on this 
occasion, a class of men to whom we owe a debt 
of gratitude, and who deserve to be held in last- 
ing remembrance, who proclaimed through evil 
and through good report the same great princi- 
ples, for the sake of which Roger Williams came 
as a pilgrim to these our shores, for the opera- 

* Rapin, p. 29. 

6 



86 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

tion of which this commonwealth fmiiished the 
first clear fields wherein this Chm'ch stands as- 
the first sacred memorial. I have done it the 
more readily, because there is to some extent, a 
popular impression that he was the father of 
our denomination in this country, and also that 
by his political sagacity, he discovered the worth 
of that great principle of unlimited religious 
liberty which is so essential to the peace and 
progress of states, which only of late years has 
triumphed in New- England, and which is only 
beginning its conquests in other lands. I have 
wished to show that he derived that principle 
from his Bible, that it was a primary element of 
his religious faith, that he held it in common 
with many contemporaries in England, who had 
received it as a moral heritage from the earliest 
times. Lured by the sound of religious liberty 
in America, he crossed the ocean ; and when he 
found in Boston a church enforcing its creed by 
the sword of the magistrate, he at once declared 
it to be anti-christian, and refused to unite with 
it unless they abjured that principle. Having 
thus on his first landing, announced the truth 
which was so dear to him, he ceased not to 
maintain it, until he had seen the wrath of man 
overruled for its promotion, and had established 
here a commonwealth in which the Church was 
disconnected from the State, and rehgion was> 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. ST 

proclaimed to be free. To him then belongs not 
the honor of making a moral discovery, but the 
honor of nobly maintaining a truth for which he 
knew others were contending even unto death ; 
the honor of a distinguished place in a long line 
of faithful witnesses which is seen through the 
vista of ages stretching into the dim distance, 
but which shall shine with immortal glory in 
that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be 
made manifest, when the first shall be last, and 
the last first. 

The character of Roger Williams is an inter- 
esting subject of study. The more we contem- 
plate it, the more shall we be struck with the 
rare combination of virtues which formed it ; 
the more shall we admire the strength of his 
mind and the enlargedness of his heart, the warm 
attachment which he felt for his own opinions, 
connected with a deep respect for the right of 
private judgment in others ; the zeal with which 
he maintained his own mental independence, 
and his ^' godly jealousy" for that of his neigh- 
bor ; the frankness with which he avowed his 
sentiments, and the heroic fortitude with which 
he defended them ; the clearness with which he 
saw the bearings of a principle, and the unflinch- 
ing fidelity with which he carried it out to its 
just conclusion. This last trait of his character 



S8 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

explains an act of his life, which to many has 
seemed at the first quite unaccountable. I mean, 
his leaving the church a few months after its 
constitution, and joining the Seekers, who, as 
they looked over Christendom and saw the cor- 
ruptions which generally prevailed, concluded 
that the divinely authorized ministry of the 
church had been lost, and that before any could 
be empowered to administer ordinances, a new 
apostleship must be commissioned. His mind 
seems to have been pressed with difficulties 
touching the right of a church to revive a lost 
institution, and his conclusion was only a logi- 
cal deduction from what was then a popular 
principle, that the authority of a ministry to 
dispense ordinances depended on the evidence of 
an apostolic succession. In his view the line of 
that succession could not be traced; for he would 
as soon have thought of calling the christian 
dispensation itself a failure, as of admitting the 
Romish priesthood to be the authorized minis- 
try of Christ. In regard to that body of men, it 
appears that very many, during ages before him, 
had declared the same opinion ; but instead of 
leading them to wait for a new apostleship, it 
prepared them to feel the force of the truth, that 
since all Christ's commands are to be obeyed, 
the church hath power at any period to restore 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 89 

to their pristine purity those lost rites which he 
has enjoined.* 

Touching this latter principle, the mind of Mr, 
Williams seems to have been troubled with 
doubts, and as he looked at the history of Christ- 
endom, as far as the outward constitution of the 
church was concerned, he was struck with the 
signs of a general apostacy. His eye rested on 
times when the whole field of his vision was 
occupied by churches which were strictly na- 
tional, identified with the civil state, and thence 
in his view, anti-christian, since Christ himself 
had said, '^my kingdom is not of this world. " 
That view however was connected with a fervent 
charity towards individuals in all communions 
as christian men, for he said that even the whole 
generation of the righteous^ had thus fallen 
away. In the church of Rome he saw that the 
ordinances of the New Testament had been 
absolutely lost ; in regard to baptism the whole 
eastern church agreed with him in this opinion;! 
and when he looked to England, he saw there a 
persecuting national church, which had, by a 
mere political accident become separated from 
Rome, with a monarch as ambitious and as 
craven as Pontius Pilate for its head, yet pro- 

* Mr. Smyth's reasoning, 1609, quoted by Ivimey, I, 118. 
t See Appendix, G. 



90 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

claimed Defender of the Faith. What homage 
could a clear sighted honest thinker like Roger 
Williams, pay to the peculiar authority of such 
a priesthood ? It could challenge no respect 
from him, any more than the divine commission 
of Mahomet. And if it were true that the 
validity of christian ordinances depend on a 
regular apostolic succession, the only logical 
alternative then left for him was, that the 
ordinances must be forever abandoned, or that a 
new apostleship must be commissioned from 
Heaven.* His acting on that conclusion, proved 
the fidelity of his mind to the principles which 
he embraced, and displayed the moral greatness 
of his soul. And if we ourselves were convinced 
that such a principle were true, who of us would 
not pursue the same course ? Far sooner would 
I wait with longing eyes for a new apostleship 
to be raised up by an Almighty hand, than 
believe that a worldly hierarchy like that which 
threw its dazzling splendors around the altars 
of the Pope and Henry VHI, could boast itself 
pre-eminently of a commission which had de- 
scended from the skies, and bore the seal of 
Christ. 

It is remarkable, that notwithstanding all the 
hai'dships which Mr. Williams endured, he 

* See Appendix, H. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 91 

should have Kved more than half a century after 
his arrival in this country, and enjoyed a vigor- 
ous old age. Vigorous indeed it was, for it 
would seem that after he had completed three- 
score years and ten, his physical force had not 
abated, and his mind glowed with all the ardor 
of his youth. What an, extraordinary object is 
presented to our attention, when we contemplate 
him at the age of seventythree, embarking in a 
small boat, and plying the oar through that day 
and until the ensuing midnight, in order to reach 
Newport at the appointed time to engage in a 
public discussion with George Fox, on those 
points of theology wherein they differed ! Truly 
in such an instance, we scarcely know at which 
to wonder most, his bodily strength, his intel- 
lectual energy, or that intense religious fervor 
which animated his bosom. Yet doubtless, 
more admirable than either of these, was that 
fine control over all the elements of his charac- 
ter, exerted by his favorite doctrine of religious 
liberty. However strong might have been his 
aversion to any class of sentiments, however 
pungent his invective, he never betrayed one 
wish to infringe on the freedom of an opponent, 
or to use any other than moral means in promo- 
ting his opinions. The strength of his language 
only indicates the warm attachment which he 
felt for his principles, which makes the more 



92 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

remarkable Avhat his whole life proved to be 
true, that he would fain yield to every man the 
same liberty which he claimed for himself, and 
would have contended as earnestly for the rights 
of an adversary as for his own.* 

When near fourscore, we find that he was 
engaged in preaching to the Indians, and after- 
wards, amid great debility, he was employed by 
his fireside, in writing out those discourses for 



* There is reason to think, that to some extent, an unfair 
estimate of Mr. Williams's personal character has been derived 
from the warmth of his language in public controversy. In 
regard to this, much allowance is to be made for the manner 
of the times. Certain it is, that he possessed in a large meas- 
ure that magnanimity of mind, that honesty and generosity, 
which not only command the esteem of men, but gain their 
hearts. Thence Dr. Bentley says, " in Salem, every body 
loved Mr. Williams. He had no personal enemies under any 
pretence ; all valued his friendship. Kind treatment could 
win him, but opposition could not conquer him. He was not 
afraid to stand alone for truth, against the world." He had 
always a tenderness of conscience, and feared every offence 
against moral truth. He breathed the purest devotion. He 
was a friend of human nature, forgiving, upright, and pious.'* 

In connexion with this testimony, it is proper to observe, 
that in some way, Mr. Williams's biographer has been led into 
a mistake on one point. He says, " it appears that Mr. Wil- 
liams so disliked Mr. Harris, that he would not write his name 
at length, but abbreviated it thus, ♦' W. Har."— [Knowles, p. 
299, note.] The fact, however, is, that in various manuscripts 
of Williams's, I have seen the name fully written, and every 
case of abbreviation is in accordance with his usual style of 
penmanship. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 93 

circulation among them.* He thus filled thirty- 
sheets of manuscript, and then asked aid of his 
friends in Boston, to enable him to publish them, 
saying, '' he that hath a shilling and a heart to 
countenance and promote such a soul-work, 
may trust the great paymaster for an hundred 
or one in this life." Although he had oppor- 
tunities of accumulating wealth, yet his sacri- 
fices for the good of the colony were immense, 
and from tlie fact just mentioned, it seems that 
he died in a condition of honorable poverty. We 
are struck in this case, with a view of the benev- 
olence of his heart and his untiring industry, 
which indeed can be no better proved than by 
the fact, that while Hving in London, as agent 
of the colony, he earned his own support by 
teaching languages, contrived when their funds 
failed, to pay their debts and maintain their 
credit, and at the same time living in habits of 
friendly intercourse with Milton, pursued with 
him a course of mutual instruction in the knowl- 
edge of various tongues. Constantly employed 
in some pursuit of literature, or work of faith, or 
labor of love, he closed his earthly pilgrimage 
early in 1683, in the eightyfourth year of his 
age, and was interred in his own family burial- 
ground, '' with all the solemnity which the col- 

» Letter to Gov. Bradetreet, 2 His. vol. VIII, p. 196. 



94 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

ony was able to shew."* His bones were laid 
not far from where we are now assembled ; near 
the spot where he first touched our shores, and 
where, probably, he first announced that name 
which constitutes this place a memorial of the 
good Providence of God. No marble marks his 
grave. Although the existence of our common- 
wealth be a sufficient monument of his fame, 
yet may the day soon come, when for our own 
sakes we shall see among us some fit memorial 
of that extraordinary man, which shall daily 
remind us of his character, and warm the hearts 
of our children with the remembrance of his 
virtues. 

Among those who were driven from Massa- 
chusetts, soon after the departure of Roger 
Williams, was Mr. Chad Brown, who came to 
Providence in 1636, and was ordained to the 
ministry of this church about three years after its 
formation. He was one of the town proprietors, 
and from the day of his arrival to the present 
time, his name has been well known, in this, 
his adopted home. He was the ancestor of a 
large and respected family, who have for many 
years past, continued, by their public spirit 
and their liberality, to identify themselves with 
the fortunes of the town, with the cause of 

* Calender, p. 147. Elton's edition. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 95 

literature and Christianity. Contemporary with 
Roger Williams, he possessed a cooler tempera- 
ment, and was happily adapted to sustain the 
interests of religion, just where that great man 
failed. Not being affected by the arguments of 
the Seekers, he maintained his standing firmly 
in a church which he believed to be founded on 
the rock of eternal truth, even " the word of 
God which abideth for ever." We know only 
enough of his character, to excite the wish to 
know more, but from that little it is clear, that 
he was highly esteemed as a man of sound 
judgment, and of a christian spirit. Often re- 
ferred to, as the arbitrator of existing differences, 
in a state of society where individual influence 
was needed as a substitute for well-digested 
laws, he won that commendation which the 
Saviour pronounced when he said " blessed are 
the peace makers, for they shall be called the 
children of God." 

We know not how long the ministry of Mr. 
Brown continued, but we find that Mr. Wick- 
enden, who at one time was imprisoned in New- 
York for preaching there without a license from 
the officer of the crown,* was ordained by 
Mr. Brown. Mr. Wickenden officiated also in 



* Jubilee Sermon by the Pastor of the First Baptist Church. 
N. Y. 1813. 



96 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

Providence J and with his name is connected our 
fii'st intelligence of the rise of a controversy, 
which was long agitated in this town, and 
throughout the commonwealth. It appears that 
many in that day, who were studying the con- 
stitution of the primitive church, regarded the 
declaration of Paul, in Hebrews, 1 : 2,* as con- 
taining a summary of essential principles, among 
which it was contended, that the imposition of 
hands on every baptized christian, held a distinct 
place. Although it is now very generally admit- 
ted, that '' the laying on of hands" mentioned in 
that passage, is an allusion to the appointed sign 
by which the apostles conferred the extraordi- 
nary gifts of the spirit,! a knowledge of which 
was of course received by their converts among 
the first elements or lessons of Christianity, yet 
then, many excellent men supposed that the 
phrase referred to di perpetual ordinance^ designed 
to succeed baptism, the reception of both which, 
was as necessary to constitute a true profession 
of Christianity, as repentance and faith were nec- 
essary to constitute a spiritual christian. With 

* Therefore, leaving the first principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foun. 
dation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God, 
of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of 
resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 

t See Acts 19 : 6, and 8 : 17, 18. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 97 

this view of the case, they felt justified in urging 
the laying on of hands after baptism, as a term 
of church communion. It might, indeed, seem 
remarkable, if this passage were designed to be a 
comprehensive summary of the essential princi- 
ples of outward and inward Christianity, that the 
communion itself were not mentioned in it. Still 
it was regarded by many in that light, and after 
awhile, they were known by the name of Six 
Principle Baptists, although they were distin- 
guished from others by only a single article, all 
agreeing as to the other five points mentioned in 
the passage. In 1652,* Rev. William Vaughan, 
of Newport, embraced this view, and hearing 
that a church had been formed in Providence 
on this basis, under the care of Rev. Mr. Wick- 
enden, he repaired hither, and having received 
that rite himself, obtained the aid of Mr. Wick- 
enden in forming a similar body at Newport.f 

At that time. Rev. Gregory Dexter was en- 
gaged in preaching the gospel here. He had 
been a stationer in London, and had officiated 
as a preacher among the Baptists of that city. 
Having incurred the displeasure of the govern- 
ment by too free a use of his press, he fled to 
America, and in 1644, arrived at Providence. 

* Samuel Hubbard, quoted by Backus, vol. II, p. 96. 
t Comer's MSS. in the possession of R. I. His. Society. 

9 



98 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

He was a correspondent of Roger Williams, and 
printed his Key to the Indian Language, at 
London, in 1643. It is probable that he, and 
Mr. Green, of Boston, were the only two in 
New-England who understood well the art of 
printing at that time ; at any rate it is certain 
that Mr. Dexter used to go regularly to Boston, 
from year to year, to aid the latter in the publi- 
cation of his almanac. It is said of him that 
he was remarkable for a grave and earnest man- 
ner which never forsook him, and was ahvays 
intent on the Avork of the ministry. When Mr. 
Vaughan visited Providence in 1652, in order to 
procure the aid of Mr. Wickenden in forming a 
church which should hold the laying on of hands 
as a divine ordinance, Mr. Dexter accompanied 
them to Newport, and seems to have taken part 
in that service ; from which we may infer that 
he had united with those who had formed a 
separate church here under the care of Mr. Wick- 
enden. After a while, the latter removed his 
residence a short distance from the town, to the 
place now called Olneyville, and then the whole 
care of his ministry devolved on Mr. Dexter, 
who lived to the advanced age of ninety years. 
During this period, the church was favored 
with the pastoral services of Rev. Thomas 
Olney. From Hartford, in England, he had 
emigrated to Salem, and was banished from that 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 99 

place with his family, in 1639, the year of his 
arrival in Providence. His name has a place 
among the signatures to the civil covenant in 
1640, and is found in various connexions after 
that time. Backus speaks of him as officiating 
in the ministry immediately after Roger Wil- 
Hams's death, and Comer, in his manuscript, 
says that he continued the pastoral care of 
the church after Mr. Wickenden left it, in 1652. 
The breach which then arose out of the contro- 
versy about laying on of hands as a divine rite, 
Avas afterwards healed, as the practice was adopt- 
ed by the church, although it was not made an 
indispensable term of communion or member- 
ship. In succeeding years, however, it is not 
probable that any entered the church without it, 
and the doctrine of the imposition of hands was 
unanimously received for more than a century. 
We know not the year when Mr. Olney's 
ministry was closed, but he was succeeded by 
Rev. Pardon Tillinghast, the ancestor of a nu- 
merous family amongst us. He was a native 
of England, emigrated to Connecticut, and came 
thence to Providence, where, for more than half 
a century, his life adorned the religion which he 
preached. It was an honorable testimony borne 
of him by governor Jenckes, derived from those 
who knew him, that he " was a man exemplary 
for his doctrine, as well as of an unblemished 



100 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

character,"* a testimony well confirmed by his 
acts of disinterested benevolence. Certainly it 
was not without reason that Morgan Edwards 
said, that the ministry of this church had been 
expensive to the ministers themselves, though 
it had cost the people but little ; for the first 
house of worship which this church possessed, 
was built by Mr. Tillinghast, in 1700, at his own 
expense. Before that year, they had worshipped 
in a grove, and in private houses when the 
weather was inclement. For his own services 
he would receive no pecuniary compensation, 
but he did not fail in his preaching to inculcate 
the principle maintained by Paul, that they 
who preach the gospel should live of the gospel, 
and that although he waved his own right to 
maintenance, it was the duty of the church to 
provide for those who should succeed him. 
Governor Jenckes quotes his words on that sub- 
ject as the words of a man whose name was 
honored, and whose opinions had weight with 
those whom he addressed. He died in 1718, 
and was interred in the burial place of his family 
"in a good old age." 

The year succeeding the death of Mr. Til- 
linghast, Rev. Ebenezer Jenckes, brother of the 

* Gov. Jenckes's letter in Backus, II, 115. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 101 

Governor, was ordained to the pastoral office.* 
He was born in Pawtucket, in 1669, and was 
the first American minister who preached in 
Providence. It is pleasing to see that at so 
early a period, the sons of Rhode-Island were 
employed in the christian ministry, that the 
church in the wilderness was not only blessed 
by her sons " that came from afar," but by those 
who were "nursed at her side." Mr. Jenckes 
belonged to a family who have been known as 
liberal friends of literature and religion. His 
father, a native of Buckinghamshire in England, 
was a pious man, and the first who built a house 
in the town of Pawtucket. His brother, the 
Governor, a member of this church, was for a 
number of years, ambassador of the Colony to 
the Court of St. James, and distinguished not 
only by the urbanity of his manners and his 
intellectual endowments, but by the graces of 
religion. His son, Daniel Jenckes, who was for 
forty eight years an active member here, was for 
forty years a member of the General Assembly, 
Chief Justice of this county, and a munificent 
donor to the college and the church. He, him- 
self, is spoken of as a man highly esteemed for 
his talents and his piety, who declining most of 
the public ofldlces which were urged on his 



* Church Records, p. 6. 

9# 



102 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

acceptance, discharged the duties of the sphere 
in which he moved, with honor and fidehty. 

From a remark in Backus's Church History, 
it appears that Mr. Jenckes was not sole Pastor 
of the church, but a colleague of Rev. James 
Brown. The latter was a grandson of the 
minister of that name, whom we have already 
spoken of as the companion and successor of 
Roger Williams, and the grand-parent of those 
four brothers,* whose names are so widely 
known as being intimately associated with the 
commercial character of Providence ; whose 
persons and actions, whose amity, enterprise and 
public spirit, are embalmed in the recollections 
of many who hear me, and with whom a number 
amongst us stand connected in ties of endearing 
relationship. They have gone from this the 
scene of their youth, their manhood and their 
age, but neither is their name extinct or their 
spirit departed. If while surveying the past, we 
might be permitted to breathe a wish for the 
future prosperity of Providence, it would be 
that all her sons might emulate the examples of 
these men of other generations, and exhibit their 
virtues on a scale proportioned to their own 
advantages; for then, indeed, would her "mer- 

* See Appendix, I. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 103 

chants be princes," and wisdom and knowledge 
would be the stability of her times. 

During the ministry of Mr. James Brown, an 
event occurred, which shoAved that more impor- 
tance began to be attached to the imposition of 
hands at that time, than during preceding years. 
The church at Newport had been blessed with 
a revival of religion, and with the hope of pro- 
moting one in Providence, Mr. Walton, a young 
minister of liberal education, was invited to 
preach here. He was willing to practice the 
laying on of hands, but not as a divine ordinance, 
necessary to church fellowship. Mr. Windsor, 
then a deacon of the church, was the leader of 
a party, who urged the imposition of hands as a 
term of church communion. Newport was then 
virtually the capital of the Colony, and Governor 
Jenckes was residing there, for the sake of con- 
venience as a public officer. He wrote to Mr. 
Brown on the subject, confirming Mr. Walton's 
view, that laying on of hands " should be no 
bar to communion with those who have been 
rightly baptized," and saying that he had been 
informed by ancient members of this church, 
that such had been the opinion of Baptists 
throughout the colony from the earliest times. 
Mr. Brown perfectly accorded in this sentiment, 
and strongly remonstrated with Mr. Windsor 
and his friends against this rigid innovation. As 



104 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

far as the case admitted, he thus evinced an 
enlargedness of mind, which it is always pleas- 
ing to observe in a christian teacher. This 
event was among the last acts of his life, for he 
died the following year, 1732, at the age of 
sixty-six. His remains were laid in his own 
burial place, at the north end of the town, where 
a stone marks his grave. 

The year following Mr. Brown's death, Mr. 
Windsor was ordained to the ministry, and con- 
tinued in that office twentyfive years. He was 
born in Providence, in 1677. His ancestors 
came from Berkshire, in England, and from the 
town which bears their name, situated on the 
bank of the Thames. Being settled in the pas- 
torship, his sentiments touching the importance 
of the imposition of hands of course prevailed, 
and from that time the practice of the church 
became more rigid. His ministry was long and 
successful. Mr. Thomas Burlingham, a native 
of Cranston, was ordained at the same time with 
Mr. Windsor, and for a while aided him in his 
work. But a church having been formed in his 
native town, Mr. Burlingham resigned his con- 
nexion here in order that he might labor there 
the more effectually. 

In 1758, Mr. Windsor died, and the following 
year his son, Samuel Windsor, Jr., was ordained 
to the pastoral office. He served the church ten 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 105 

years, and then requested them to look out for 
a successor. The number and arduousness of 
his duties, the claims of his family, and the dis- 
tance of his residence from the place of worship, 
were the reasons he assigned for this request. 
At that time. Rev. Dr. James Manning was 
officiating as President of Rhode-Island College, 
which had been commenced in 1765, under his 
direction, at Warren. It was for several years 
a matter of doubt where the college would be 
permanently established, but in 1770, it was 
determined by the Corporation, that the College 
edifice '' be built in the town of Providence, and 
there be continued for ever." The removal of 
Dr. Manning to this town was hailed by the 
church as a happy event, supposing as they did, 
that by calling him to be their minister, they 
would carry into effect Mr. Windsor's wishes. 
Immediately on his arrival he was requested to 
occupy the pulpit, and as the first sabbath on 
which he preached happened to be the day for 
administering the Lord's Supper, he was invited 
by Mr. Windsor to participate with the church. 
Soon after that, suspicions seem to have arisen 
among some, that Dr. Manning held the impo- 
sition of hands rather too loosely, and that he 
practised it more to accommodate the con- 
sciences of others, than to meet the demands of 
his own. A party of these v/as soon formed, 



106 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

with whom Mr. Windsor himself sympathized 
and acted. Still it was thought by some, that 
this was only " the ostensible reason" of their 
dissatisfaction, and that they must have some 
other one more weighty. This was found in 
the opposition of Mr. Windsor to the introduc- 
tion of music in public worship, which it was 
supposed Dr. Manning favored. On that point 
the sentiment of the (Quakers seems to have 
prevailed, and singing was discarded, as unau- 
thorized by the New Testament. What diver- 
sity of opinion once existed touching a point 
which seems clear to us, may be inferred from 
the fact, that in 1691, a work was published in 
London, by the celebrated Keach, entitled, 
" The Breach Repaired in God's Worship : or 
the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, 
proved to be a holy ordinance of Jesus Christ." 
In this, the author proceeded to show — what it 
is to sing — that there can be no proper singing 
without the voice, that the essence of singing is 
no more in the heart or spirit than the essence 
of preaching," and to elucidate other points 
connected with the subject. It is probable that 
singing was first laid aside in times of persecu- 
tion, on account of the danger of practising it, 
and that afterwards it was difficult to revive 
every where a due sense of its worth as a 
divine appointment. In regard to this, the 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 107 

teachings of the New Testament seem to us 
to be quite explicit, and that the church is left 
to select her own songs and modes of singing ; 
yet it is worthy of note, that among the 
Scotch Presbyterians there has been more oppo- 
sition to the introduction of metrical hymns, 
than there ever was in this place to the intro- 
duction of sacred music into worship. Such 
discussions may seem fastidious now, but it must 
be remembered that after Popery had long made 
void God's word by man's tradition, the spirit 
which produced a reformation would be naturally 
characterized by an extreme and sensitive jeal- 
ousy touching every practice on which the seal 
of divine authority was not clearly seen. On 
this latter point Mr. Windsor strongly insists ir» 
his letter to the church touching the controversy 
before us, though the stress of his argument is 
applied to the doctrine of laying on of hands. 
After a series of church meetings, the whole 
matter was decided in favor of Dr. Manning, 
who thence became the pastor of this church, 
while Mr. Windsor afterwards became the 
founder of a new church in Johnston, which 
exists to this day. 

For three years Dr. Manning preached to great 
acceptance, but without much visible success in 
promoting the conversion of men as sinners unto 
Christ. But in 1774, one of those wide-spread 



108 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

revivals of religion, with which the American 
Church has from the first been remarkably blest, 
pervaded the town of Providence. Its beginning 
was obscure, but its end was glorious. At a 
time when there seems not to have been known 
among the congregation any instance of attention 
to the nature and necessity of personal religion, 

/\ two colored women were made the subjects of 
renewing grace and were united to the church. 
Soon afterwards others were awakened, and ere 
long the truths of religion became the subjects 
of thought and conversation in almost every 
family. Although before that time there had 
been a good attendance at church, yet now the 
sanctuary was found to be by far too small. In 
the history of this church, no event had occurred 

' since its formation, which we can contemplate 

with so much pleasure. It is delightful to place 
ourselves in imagination amidst the scenes of 
that year, to picture before us the able and faith- 
ful preacher who then officiated here as he stood 
up amidst the large assemblies of the people who 
thronged around him, listening as they did to the 
gospel with intense attention as a message from 
the skies, the very word of God which worketh 
eftectually in them that believe, to mark the 
lively interest which was kindled in every 
bosom and beamed from every eye as one after 
another came forth '' on the side of the Lord,'- 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 109 

and professed his faith in pubhc baptism — to 
contemplate the fresh springs of spiritual life 
which were then opened in many a house when 
the family altar was first erected there, and 
parents and children bowed together, to worship 
the common Father and Redeemer in spirit 
and in truth. The wise men and the busy men 
of this world may deem the subjects of politics 
and commerce more fitting themes of popular 
thought and excitement, yet scenes like those, 
which this town then presented, were such as 
now awaken "joy in heaven among the angels 
of God." 

As the fruits of that revival, one hundred and 
four persons were united to the church, a gene- 
rous spirit was fostered in the community, and 
fresh encouragements were furnished to those, 
who had already projected the erection of the 
house of worship in which we are now assembled. 
That subject was discussed in February, 1774, 
when, at a meeting of the society, it was re- 
solved, " that all would heartily unite as one 
man in all lawful ways and means to promote 
the good of the society, and particularly attend 
to and revive the affair of building a meeting- 
house for the public worship of Almighty God, 
and to hold Commencement in." It appears 
from the records that the whole matter was 
conducted with a high degree of unanimity, zeal, 
10 



110 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

and promptitude. A committee of two persons, 
Messrs. Joseph Brown and Jonathan Hammond, 
were immediately appointed to proceed to Bos- 
ton, "in order to view the different churches 
there, to make a memorandum of their several 
dimensions and forms of architecture." A suit- 
able lot of land was selected and bought, the 
same month. The draught of the house was 
made by Joseph Brown, Esq., a member of 
the church, and Mr. Sumner, who also super- 
intended the building. It was completed and 
dedicated in May, 1775, on which occasion 
Dr. Manning preached from Genesis, 28 : 17, — 
" This is none other but the house of God, 
and this is the gate of heaven." While we 
contemplate with pleasure, the spiritual en- 
largement with which this church was at that 
time favored, we have reason to congratulate 
ourselves that those who erected this house of 
worship for us, have left such a memorial of 
their religious devotion, and of taste for archi- 
tectural beauty.* 

The same year in which the foundation of 
this building was laid, a number of persons 
belonging to the church and congregation, ani- 
mated with a desire to provide for the support of 
the ministry of religion, the education of their 

* See Appendix J. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. Ill 

children, and necessary aid to the poor, organized 
themselves into a body politic for these purposes, 
and were incorporated by a charter under the 
title of the Charitable Baptist Society in the 
town of Providence, in the colony of Rhode- 
Island and Providence Plantations, in New- 
England. The charter conferred no power of 
raising money except by contribution, or sub- 
scription ; and as the proprietors afterwards 
agreed to pay an annual assessment on their 
pews, to raise a regular income for repairs, the 
powers of the society were so enlarged in 1808, 
as to enable them to tax their property for this 
purpose. In 1832, the powers of the society were 
still further enlarged, so as to enable them to 
lay assessments on the pews, for the support of 
the ministry, and for other necessary expenses. 
This was regarded by some as an infringement 
on the voluntary principle, but certainly without 
good reason, since no one was thus taxed except 
by his own consent. 

In looking back to the history of those times, 
we cannot but regard it as a remarkable and 
happy event, that this temple was finished and 
the society so firmly organized, before the com- 
mencement of the American Revolution. In 
1776, independence was declared, and war pro- 
claimed. In that fearful contest, Rhode-Island 
acted an important part, and bore her share of 



112 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

suffering. War is generally regarded as a 
scourge, on account of the physical evil which 
it inflicts ; but its moral eff'ects are still more to 
be dreaded. During that of the revolution, the 
operations of literature and religion were para- 
lyzed, the church was scattered and the college 
was broken up. The young men of the former 
were draughted for the army, and the edifice of 
the latter was used first as barracks for our mi- 
litia, and then as a hospital for the French army 
under Count Rochambeau. For the space of seven 
years Dr. Manning's collegiate exercises were 
suspended, but he continued to discharge the 
duties which devolved on him as pastor of the 
church, and to these he devoted himself with 
untiring zeal. He was admirably fitted for that 
crisis. It was a season of great distress, many 
families left the town, and from the records of 
the church in 1777, we see that members of it 
who were possessed of personal and real estate, 
were not able to avail themselves of its benefits, 
and were objects of commiseration. It was the 
delight of Dr. Manning to aid the needy, and to 
throw the sunshine of christian sympathy around 
the path of the afliicted. His knowledge of the 
world, his courtly manners, his christian meek- 
ness, combined with great energy of character, 
enabled him to move at ease with every class of 
society, and to promote the good of all. In a 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 113 

recent memoir, which forms an elegant tribute 
to his memory by one of om* fellow-citizens, it 
is stated, that '' he enjoyed the confidence of the 
general commanding in this department, and in 
one instance in particular, had all the benevolent 
feelings of his heart gratified, even at the last mo- 
ment, after earnest entreaty, by obtaining from 
General Sullivan, an order of reprieve for three 
men of the regular army, who were sentenced to 
death by that inexorable tribunal, a Court Mar- 
tial. The moment he obtained the order revok- 
ing the sentence, he mounted his horse at the 
General's door, and by pushing him to his 
utmost speed, arrived at the place of execution 
at the instant the last act had begun, which was 
to precipitate them into eternity. With a voice 
which none could disobey, he commanded the 
execution to stay, and delivered the General's 
order to the officer of the guard. The joy of 
the attending crowd, seemed greater than that 
of the subjects of mercy ; they were called so 
suddenly to life, from the last verge of death, 
they did not, for a moment, feel that it was a 
reality."* 



* John Howland, Esq. President of R. I. His. Soc'y ; quoted 
by Prof. Goddard, in his late memoir of Rev. James Manning, 
D. D. 

10* 



114 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

The pressing exigencies of that period, urged 
Dr. Manning to obey the call of his country, in 
accepting several important trusts in civil life. 
On a trying occasion, there was committed to 
him an embassy from this commonwealth to the 
state of Connecticut, the object of which he 
accomplished most successfully. In 1786, he 
was appointed to represent the State of Rhode- 
Island in the Congress of the United States, 
where it was aptly said of him that he " held 
the pen of a ready Avriter," and was master of 
all the great questions before the House. In 
1788, he attended, as a visiter, the Convention 
which met in Boston for ratifying the Constitu- 
tion, where, " on the last day of the session, 
before the final question was taken, Governor 
Hancock, the President, invited him to close 
the solemn convocation with thanksgiving and 
prayer. Dr. Manning, though, as Dr. Water- 
house thinks, taken by surprise, immediately 
dropped on his knees, and poured out his heart 
in a strain of exalted patriotism and fervid devo- 
tion, which awakened in the assembly a mingled 
sentiment of admiration and awe." The impres- 
sion which he made must have been extraordi- 
nary, for it appears from the statement of Dr. 
Waterhouse, who dined in a large company after 
the adjournment, that Dr. Manning became the 
theme of general conversation, and had not Dr. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 115 

Stillman at that time been filling a very wide 
sphere with remarkable energy and success, a 
church would have been built in Boston for Dr. 
Manning's acceptance.* 

When the war was over, and the members 
of the church who had been separated were 
restored to each other, two church meetings 
Avere held, one in Providence, the other in Paw- 
tucket, in order to renew their solemn covenant 
to walk together in the commands and ordinances 
of the Lord. Mingled with the joy of peace, 
there was a mournful recollection of that happy 
religious progress which the war had arrested, 
and that "bloom of possession which had faded 
away." Amidst the general thanksgivings for 
political quiet, the church gathered around the 
altar of the Lord, and dedicated themselves to 
him afresh. 

When the affairs of the College began to 
revive. Dr. Manning felt that the number of his 
duties and his cares were too great for him. 
On that account, in 1791, he resigned his pas- 
toral office, and preached his farewell sermon in 
April of that year. His relation to the church 
had been an endearing one, and while they all 
wept at that parting scene, they little thought 
how soon they would be called to pay the last 

* Memoir of Manning by Professor Goddard, p. 12. 



116 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

sad tribute of affection and friendship at his 
tomb. Two months after that time, while 
engaged in family worship, he fell in a fit of 
apoplexy, in which he remained for six days, 
almost unconscious of any thing, and then 
expired. He was aged fiftythree years, and if, 
like his friend. Dr. Stillman, whom he much 
resembled in character, he had prayed that he 
might not outlive his usefulness, that prayer 
Avas truly fulfilled in the time and manner of 
his death. 

A glance at the character of Dr. Manning, and 
of the eventful times in which he lived, is 
adapted to awaken in the mind a pleasing sense 
of that wise adaptation of means to ends, which 
may be traced more or less in all the workings 
of that holy Providence which led him hither, 
to present an impressive view of the great truth 
which Cowper felt Avhen he said, 

God gives to every man 
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste, 
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall 
Just in the niche he was ordained to fill. 

He was born in Elizabethtown, N. J., October 
22d, 1738, graduated at Princeton College in 
1762, with the highest honors of his class, and 
having preached a short time at Morristown, 
became a resident of Rhode-Island in 1763. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 117 

Here he has left many memorials of a useful life, 
and a name that will be always fragrant. 

Rev. Jonathan Maxcy, D. D. was the succes- 
sor of Dr. Manning in the ministry. A little 
before the death of the latter, young Maxcy 
was hcensed by the church to preach, having 
graduated three years before, at the age of 
nineteen years. The following year he was 
ordained to the pastorship, and appointed Pro- 
fessor of Divinity in the College. The next 
year, 1792, he succeeded Dr. Manning in the 
Presidency. Not long after, he resigned the 
pastorship of the church, and in 1802, accepted 
the Presidentship of Union College at Schenec- 
tady, N. Y. He remained there only two years, 
and then removed to Columbia, S. C, having 
been elected President of South-Carolina Col- 
lege. Over that institution he presided sixteen 
years, until the time of his death, in 1820. He 
was an accomplished scholar, an efficient in- 
structor, and an eloquent preacher. His writings 
breathe the spirit of a pure Christianity, and 
indicate that he was both a sound theologian, 
and a clear reasoner. One of the most lucid 
exhibitions which we have ever seen of the 
doctrine of the atonement, came from his pen, 
and among the theological articles which the 
discussions of his day called forth, few produc- 
tions have done more to meet the difficulties, 



118 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

and determine the opinions of young inquirers. 
We come now to speak of the ministry of 
one, whose form and features seem to be inti- 
mately associated with this place in the recol- 
lections of many of us, and whose very voice 
seems still to linger around these walls. For 
thirty six years, the Rev. Stephen Gano went in 
and out before this people as their pastor, and 
with a character " known and read of all men" 
commanded the esteem of all, as a man, a christ- 
ian and a minister. It is always pleasing to 
speak of the life of any individual, to the very 
community in whose midst he lived, when all 
accord in the acknowledgment of his moral 
worth, and are glad to do him honor ; but espe- 
cially IS it a grateful thing to do so in the case 
of one who was set as a teacher and guide of 
the people, when those who knew him best 
esteemed him most, confessed that he practised 
what he preached, and adorned the doctrine of 
God in all things. Such a man was Dr. GanOy 
who though he passed the greater part of his 
manhood in this place, from first to last main- 
tained that beautiful consistency, that dignity 
of life and manners, which when calmly sur- 
veyed in retrospect, is fitted deeply to impress 
the heart with a sense of the reality and the 
power of religion. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 119 

Mr. Gano, was born in the city of New- York, 
December 25th, 1762. His father was the 
Rev. John Gano, for many years pastor of the 
First Baptist Church of that city. As his name 
imports, he was of French extraction, being de- 
scended from a family of Huguenots, who, with 
many others, fled from the dominions of Charles 
IX, after the revocation of the edict of Nantz, in 
1699. They obtained lands of the English 
near New- York, settled a township, and called 
it New-Rochelle, in honor of that city which 
was the strong hold of Protestantism in their 
father-land. 

It was the intention of Mr. Gano's father, that 
his son should pursue a collegiate course of 
education, under the direction of his uncle. Dr. 
Manning. But when the war of the Revolution 
broke up the college, his attention was diverted 
to the study of medicine, which he pursued 
with Dr. Stites, a maternal uncle, in New- 
Jersey. The father being a chaplain in the 
American service, the son became connected 
with it as a surgeon, and on the return of peace, 
practised medicine in his native State. At that 
time, in all his habits and associations, he was 
far from giving any promise of ever becoming a 
rehgious man. But in regard to that, all human 
reasonings were baffled by the power of Him 
who is able to save to the uttermost ; and the 



120 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

truth that man is saved by sovereign grace, was 
by his own conversion so displayed to his mind, 
as to make an impression that could never be 
erased. 

Soon after this great spiritual change, although 
his profession opened before him a fair path to 
wealth, his heart turned towards the christian 
ministry. At the age of twentythree he was 
ordained by the first Baptist church in New- 
York. He was soon zealously employed as a 
preacher at Hudson, in his native State, and in 
1792, was invited by this church to preach first 
as a candidate, and afterwards was cordially 
received as a pastor. At that period the town 
was just beginning to rise from its prostration 
by the war, and the church embraced only one 
hundred and sixtyfive members. It is pleasing 
to observe, however, that within the sphere of 
his influence the revival of religion was con- 
comitant with the revival of commerce, and that 
the early years of his ministry were brightened 
with remarkable success. During the thirtysix 
years of his pastorship, he was blessed with nine 
of those auspicious seasons which we denomi- 
nate revivals of religion, in each of which the 
number of the church was much enlarged, and 
the pulse of piety greatly strengthed. The first 
of these was in 1793, and the last in 1820, when 
the number of the church amounted to 648, of 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 121 

whom 147 were baptized that year. Doubtless 
there are many here who feel that memory loves 
to linger around those sacred scenes, to recal 
those happy seasons when the river side became 
a place '' where prayer was wont to be made," 
and when under the guidance of this venerable 
servant of the Lord, youth, and manhood, and 
decrepid age, hastened together, to yield them- 
selves up to God in the appointed symbol of 
self-consecration. Into the spirit of such occa- 
sions Dr. Gano entered with all the energy of 
his heart ; never did he seem to be more happy 
and impressive, and in respect to them, few 
ministers have had their warmest desires more 
largely gratified. 

The destitution of preachers which followed 
the Revolutionary War was very great, and the 
demand for the preaching of the gospel in this 
neighborhood and commonwealth was quite 
urgent. To this exigency, Dr. Gano was ad- 
mirably fitted. Having an athletic frame, great 
muscular energy, strength of voice, and much 
interested in making excursions of a missionary 
character, he had reason to believe that many 
seals of his ministry were scattered over a wide 
extent of country, and doubtless many such will 
appear at last as stars in his crown of rejoicing. 
With those qualities which rendered Dr. 
Gano's preaching so acceptable to the great mass 



122 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

of the people, who indeed " heard him gladly," 
there was combined a sound practical judgment, 
a power of discriminating character, and a steady 
self-command, which rendered him weighty in 
counsel, and a most useful member of various 
ecclesiastical bodies. For nineteen years in 
succession, he presided at the meetings of the 
Warren Association, whose members felt, when 
they first met without him, that a strange and 
melancholy chasm had been made among them, 
and that they had lost the aid of a beloved and 
venerable father. The impression of his charac- 
ter upon the younger ministry around him, was 
indeed a most happy one ; for they saw in him 
the rare combination of a strict integrity in 
maintaining his own opinions, with great enlarg- 
edness of heart regarding those who differed 
from him. He was always courteous without 
compromising truth, and zealous without big- 
otry. Of the liberality w^hich arises from indif- 
ference to religious sentiment, he knew nothing; 
that which springs from christian love, which 
embraces in spiritual fellowship '' all who hold 
the Head, even Christ," he possessed an ample 
measure. Dignified without affectation, and 
manly without sternness, his meekness most 
distinguished him, and his "gentleness made 
him great." 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 123 

The manner of Dr. Gano's death, was quite 
a contrast to that of his uncle and predecessor, 
Dr. Manning. Both were ripe for heaven, but 
the latter was called suddenly there, while the 
former was led slowly through the dark valley. 
The fatal sickness of the latter was passed in a 
state of insensibility ; the former lingered many 
days in exquisite pain. The latter could say 
but little of the state of his mind or the prospects 
before him ; the former could proclaim the high 
praises of God amidst protracted agonies. His 
disease was described by his physician. Dr. Levi 
Wheaton, as a dropsy of the chest, and by a 
post mortem examination, his lungs were found 
inundated and compressed to an extraordinary 
degree. For nearly seven months, from Jan- 
uary 26th to August 18th, it made painful 
progress. The following note occurs in his 
memoranda, under date of January 27th. Had 
a severe attack of my breast complaint last night, 
after I had retired ; was obliged to bleed myself 
copiously, and obtained relief. Oh, blessed God ! 
give me an habitual preparation to meet the pale 
messenger, whenever he comes. 

During the three succeeding months, he 
preached occasionally. His last sermon was 
delivered on the 27th of April, from Romans 5 : 
4, on the subject of christian experience. Twice 
after that day he was permitted to attend the 



124 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE, 

sanctuary, and then for three months more, to 
use hite own language, wearisome days and 
nights were appointed to him. '' But I bless 
God," said he, "I feel perfectly willing to have 
it just as it is. I have resigned myself into his 
hands, knowing he will not inflict one pain too 
much." His extraordinary fortitude seemed to 
spring directly from his faith in God, which was 
at all times equal to the emergency. I remember 
well the emphasis with which a friend who 
visited him in his sickness, and had just come 
from his bed-side, expressed the sentiment, that 
he had never seen such a lamb-like, unmurmur- 
ing suiferer, amidst pains so exquisite. 

During this period, his mind was sustained by 
meditations of an elevated and cheering char- 
acter, and he found some hours for reading a few 
favorite books, such as Fuller's Life of Pearce, 
and Jay's Lectures. " This" said he, " is the 
kind of reading which my soul loves." No book 
suited him then, which did not tend to guide 
his mind to the cross of Christ. When visited 
by one of his aged friends. Deacon Joseph Mar- 
tin, an officer of the church, he said with much 
emphasis amidst great weakness, '•' I am glad to 
have an opportunity to express to you that the 
doctrine of the Deity of Jesus Christ is my 
support — it is the rock on which my soul rests 
in the last hour." " Ah, Doctor," was the reply, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 125 

^' you still hold to that." '' That doctrine holds 
me," said he, "or I should sink." 

On the afternoon of Sunday, the 17th of 
August, his mind was filled with unusual joy 
and transport. Heaven broke upon his sight. 
"Not a cloud," he said, " but all clear sunshine. 
I have been trying to find a dark spot, but all is 
bright." I feel filled with God and Christ." 

Oh if my Lord would come and meet, 

My soul would stretch her wings in haste, 

Fly fearless through death's iron gate, 
Nor feel the terrors as she passed. 

His desire was realized on the following after- 
noon, Monday, August 18th, 1828. On August 
20th, a funeral discourse was delivered by Rev. 
Dr. Sharp, of Boston, from Proverbs 10 : 7, — 
" The memory of the just is blessed." 

After the death of Dr. Gano, the church re- 
mained more than a year and a half without a 
pastor. They then united in a call to Rev. 
Robert Everett Pattison, who had been Professor 
of Mathematics at Waterville College, but was 
at that time pastor of the second Baptist Church 
in Salem. The invitation was accepted, and 
he was settled March 21st, 1830. He remained 
pastor of the church more than six years, during 
which time the connexion between them be- 
came increasingly happy. Under his ministry 
IP 



126 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

a fresh impulse was given to the progress of 
rehgion, and those interests of the church and 
society which had languished during the declin- 
ing days of Dr. Gano, and while the church 
had been destitute of a pastor. After the arduous 
labors of a year, he was pleased to observe a 
renewed attention to religion gradually extend- 
ing itself, and before he resigned his charge, he 
had baptized two hundred and three individuals 
into the name of Christ. 

His departure from this place was rendered 
necessary by his declining health. His resig- 
nation of the pastoral office was accepted August 
11, 1836. He then entered upon a new sphere 
of duties, which he yet fills with renovated en- 
ergy and with gratifying success. 

In looking back upon the history of this church 
from its formation to the present time, we can- 
not but feel that we are loudly called upon to-day . 
to bow our heads in solemn worship, before the 
Lord, while in this temple of our solemnities, we 
remember how great things he hath wrought for 
us. We are assembled near the spot, where our 
founder lifted up his voice in words of praise, that 
he had passed through the great and terrible 
wilderness, and had found at last the promised 
land. Well may we catch the same notes of 
thanksgiving, well may we cry in the words of 
the ancient patriarch touching his once exiled 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 127 

son, ''blessed of the Lord be his land, for the 
precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for 
the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the 
precious things of the earth and the fullness 
thereof, for the good-will of him that dwelt in 
the bush, and for the blessing which came upon 
the head of his servant, and upon the top of the 
head of him that was separated from his breth- 
ren." Add your testimony to his this day, that 
God's providence is rich, his judgments deep, 
his promises sure ; for I call you to record that 
the hopes of that venerable pilgrim have fully 
been realized, and not one thing hath failed of all 
that he saw by the eye of faith. Here freedom 
has been established, religion enshrined, perse- 
cution condemned ; here civil order and the 
right of private judgment have met together, 
and thus righteousness and peace have embraced 
each other. 

It is a matter of just and special congratula- 
tion too, that this church, is united in main- 
taining the same great doctrines which were 
professed on the day of its formation. Roger 
Williams was celebrated in his day, as a preacher 
of the very principles of evangelical religion 
which were the distinguishing doctrines of those 
great reformers, Luther and Calvin, and which, 
in another century shone forth with such efful- 
gence in the preaching of Whitefield. They 



128 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

have been sustained by no state patronage, they 
have not even been embodied in a creed, but 
subjected to free discussion, and received as the 
doctrines of the bible, they have held their sway 
simply by their moral power. They have en- 
dured every trial, are still retained amongst us, 
and loved as well as ever. Standing as she 
does on the ground of her early faith, while the 
very churches which once censured her freedom 
as the prolific source of every error have gone 
far from what they then called orthodoxy, she 
is prepared from the experience of two centuries, 
to urge afresh upon the whole professing church 
of Christ, this great lesson, that whatever truth 
may be, she needs not to be guarded by the 
edicts of states, or the set phrase of synodical 
articles, but would fain shine by her own pure 
light, and be permitted to have free course that 
she may glorify herself 

While by the light of history, we look around 
upon the present state of the world, a few facts 
replete with meaning, connected with important 
practical lessons, force themselves upon our 
attention. 

I. The success of the principle which was 
embodied in the constitution of this church. 
That principle, reduced to its simplest express- 
ion, is, that the christian dispensation acknowl- 
edges no tie which can unite a human being to 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 129 

the visible kingdom of God on earth, except a 
vohintary profession of faith in Christ. This 
involves as an essential part of true Christianity, 
the idea of religious liberty. No one can be 
forced to a voluntary profession, to a cheerful 
obedience. Hence results the sentiment, that 
the magistrate has no right to interfere in the 
affairs of conscience — Whence the disconnexion of 
the church and the state. This too, of course, 
excludes infant baptism from any place in the 
present dispensation, which is adapted only to 
intelligent, free, responsible beings. The first 
of these necessary consequents, the first to take 
full possession of the mind of Williams, has 
been, the first to triumph in this country. Its 
progress has been slow, but sure. It has 
advanced amidst mighty strugglings. In 1638, 
a man was fined in Massachusetts, for writing 
against the law for the support of religion, and 
another for reading it.* In 1656, the United 
Colonies joined in recommending to the courts, 
to pass laws forbidding the Q^uakers to enter 
within their jurisdiction.! Rhode-Island refused 
to comply, and even appealed to England for aid 
to enable her to carry out the principles of her 
charter. In New- York, Episcopacy was estab- 

« Maes. His. Coll. 

t Trumbull's History of Connecticut. 



130 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

lished in the four first counties, where all dis- 
senters were obliged to pay to the established 
clergy, except so far as the Dutch churches, by 
virtue of an original stipulation, gained an ex- 
emption.* 

In Carolina and Georgia the support of reli- 
gion was enforced by law,f and even in Mary- 
land, more liberal than they, liberty was so 
defined that some who are called christians, 
could not hold offices of trust, J and it was 
enacted that " Any one speaking reproachfully 
against the Blessed Virgin or the Apostles, shall 
be fined five pounds."^ In 1659-62-93, the 
Assembly of Virginia, made it penal in parents, 
to refuse to have their children baptized. 1| The 
very year when measures were commenced for 
the erection of this house, the Baptist Association 
of Virginia, appointed a day of fasting, as they 
said, '' to pray for our poor blind persecutors, 
and for the releasement of our brethren. "H In 
that State their desires were remarkably accom- 
plished. Their influence as a people has been 

* Dr. Styles's Discourse on Christian Union. Boston, 1761. 

t Dr. Styles's Disc. 

t Bancroft, I, p. 276. 

§Chalmer's Pol. Ann. I, 218. 

II Jefferson's Notes, p. 229. 

IT Dr. Scmplc's History of the Baptists in Virginia. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 131 

widely felt on this question there, and we 
have the testimony of Washington in one of 
his letters, that the denomination " have been 
throughout America, uniformly and almost unan- 
imously, the firm friends of civil liberty, and the 
persevering promoters of our glorious revolu- 
tion."* The same testimony has been reiterated 
by Jefferson, who brought all the energy of his 
mind to co-operate with them in promoting a 
principle which was with him merely an element 
of his political philosophy, but which was with 
them a primary doctrine of religious belief. 

It was not until 1811, that true religious lib- 
erty began to be known in Massachusetts. 
Before that period, all were taxed to support the 
established order, and an association was formed 
among the Baptists to protect their members 
from illegal oppression. At that time, the law 
was so modified as to allow every man to pay 
his tax for the support of that worship which he 
chose to attend, provided that a certificate of his 
intention were duly filed with the town clerk. 
For that change, the efforts of Backus, Leland,t 
Baldwin, and others, had long been preparing 
the way. But it was not till 1834, that the last 
political link which united the church and the 

* Benedict, II, 481. 

t Benedict, II, 267, 482. 



132 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

State was destroyed, and every man was left free 
to pay much or little, any thing or nothing, for 
the support of religion. The bill to that effect 
was passed several times in the House of Rep- 
resentatives, but was lost in the Senate, till at 
last being referred directly to the people, it was 
carried at the ballot-boxes by an immense ma- 
jority. The legal support of religion was pleaded 
for on the same ground of state necessity as 
that of common education ; but since that day 
religion has not declined, and no act has been 
more popular than the increase of the tax for 
secular education. It has been lately said by 
one of her most gifted sons, " Massachusetts may 
blush, that the Catholic colony of Lord Balti- 
more, and the (Quaker, the blameless (Quaker 
Colony of Penn, were originally founded on the 
principles of christian right, long before she felt 
or acknowledged them."* 

We have remarked, that from the great prin- 
ciple which distinguishes us as a people, namely, 
that a voluntary profession of faith is the only 
tie which can rightfully connect a human being 
with Christ's visible kingdom, it follows that 
infant baptism has no place under the Christian 
dispensation. As we understand it, coming as 
it is said in the place of circumcision, it is a part 

* Judge Story's Centennial Address, p. 57. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 133 

of Judaism and not of Christianity. In connex- 
ion with the spread of rehgious hberty, we may 
well marvel that this other doctrine is now so 
widely extended ; that though opposed at first 
by wisdom, learning, and power, it now num- 
bers a larger body of supporters than any one of 
the denominations opposed to it.''^ This is 
indeed no proof of its truth ; but the fact of its 
success in this country, shows its adaptation to 
take hold of the popular mind, and to win its 
way by merely moral force to universal respect, 
and a general reception. By its own inward 
energy, only, would we wish it to succeed ; God 
forbid that it should ever gain wide conquests 
in any other way. What it has done, however, 
shows it to possess great moral strength, and 
makes it worthy of the study of every inquiring 
mind. This will lead us to consider, 

II. What are the chief elements of its power ? 
Where lies the secret of its success ? We an- 
swer : First, In its simplicity.— It is easily under- 
stood, very plain, as well as exceedingly obvious. 
It is not necessarily the result of long theological 
-or philosophical reasonings, but meets the eye 
of the inquirer on the very surface of the New 
Testament. Those, therefore, who have not 

* American Almanac, 1839. 

12 



134 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

yielded fully to it, have felt themselves pressed 
with many difficulties. — Secondly, In its har- 
mony with a christian's first convictions of the 
spirituality of religion. When a man first feels 
that the kingdom of God is within him, that 
voluntary faith is the only bond which can 
connect him with Christ's invisible kingdom, 
then the doctrine that a voluntary profession of 
faith is the only tie which can unite him with 
the outward church, strikes in with the deepest 
emotions of his soul. His heart responds to the 
truth, that in regard to his outward as well as 
his inward relations to christiemity, '' old things 
have passed away, and all things have become 
new." Thirdly, In the extent and importance 
of its bearings. — It is at once seen to produce 
the most far-reaching consequences. The prin- 
ciple that personal faith is the only bond of 
union with the church, involves the idea of the 
spiritual nature of Christianity, the voluntary 
character of the christian dispensation, and 
destroys the possibility of religious persecution. 
How can persecution exist where this principle 
gains sway ? There is no point on which out- 
ward force can operate ; it hath no object at 
which to aim. Men must of necessity be left 
to themselves, in order that they may freely 
*' choose whom they will serve." It strikes an 
effective blow at all church-estabhshments, at 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 135 

all state-patronage of religion. It produces reli- 
gious liberty, not on the ground of expediency, 
but demands it as a necessary condition of the 
progress of true Christianity. It stands forth in 
direct contrast to that theor^r of church constitu- 
tion, defended ably by that great writer who is 
well designated, " the judicious Hooker." '' We 
hold," says he, " that seeing there is not any 
man of the Church of England, but the same 
man is also a member of the commonwealth, 
nor any member of the commonwealth who is 
not also of the Church of England ; therefore, 
as in a figure triangle, the base doth diifer from 
the sides thereof, and yet one and the selfsame 
line is both a base and also a side — a side simply, 
a base if it chance to be the bottom and underlie 
the rest ; so, albeit properties and actions of one 
do cause the name of a commonwealth, qualities 
and functions of another sort, the name of a 
church to be given to a multitude, yet one and 
the selfsame multitude may in such sort be both. 
Nay, it is so with us, that no one pertaining to 
the one can be denied also of the other." '' Our 
state is, according to the pattern of God's own 
elect people ; which was not part of them, the 
church of God ; but the selfsame people, whole 
and entire, were both under one chief Governor, 
on whose supreme authority they did all de- 
pend." If Psedo-Baptism would fairly maintain 



136 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

the relative position which once belonged to the 
rite of circumcisionj it must acknowledge this 
representation of the ecclesiastical polity to be 
just and true. 

Now the great principle of the Baptists derives 
its power, from its standing forth in its simplic- 
ity, clearness and integrity, as the antagonist 
of this and every theory from which church 
establishments arise. It declares at the outset, 
that no human being can be born into the 
christian church, or be baptized into it except 
on a voluntary profession of faith. Thence, it 
asserts that no creed can be enforced by law. 
that the magistrate has no right whatever to 
interfere in matters purely spiritual. In regard 
to this point, the Baptists have uniformly in 
ages past, taken higher ground than any sect of 
Protestants. The latter in their plea for religious 
liberty, have generally been content to ask or 
demand toleration ; the former have declared it 
to be a violation of the spirit of Christianity for 
any human power to assume the right to tolerate. 
The latter have shown in practice, that a church 
establishment may be rendered compatible with 
their systems ; the former have proved that theii- 
fundamental principle is the set antagonist of an 
established religion. The latter coming out 
from the bosom of the Romish Church, protested 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 137 

against her corruptions of doctrine, not against 
her union with the state ; the former spoke of 
her as anti-christian on account of that one fea- 
ture. The former and the latter hold many 
sentiments of vital worth in common, sufficient 
to form the basis of a true spiritual fellowship ; 
but in regard to the outward constitution of the 
church, the latter retain, as we think, an element 
of Judaism, with which the creed of the former 
can never coalesce. 

And while we lament that this difference yet 
exists, we feel bound to adhere to it from a 
sense of duty to God, from loyalty to truth, and 
for the welfare of the world. Yes, we say for 
the welfare of the world ; for we believe that 
the element of power which has been so much 
dreaded on the continent of Europe, under the 
name of Anabaptism, is the very thing which is 
needed for the reformation of Christendom. 
The evils which exist in the Protestant churches 
of the continent, the moral torpor, the cold 
formality, the persecuting spirit, arise mainly 
from the establishment of a state-religion, from 
the prevalent idea, as Locke expresses it, '' that 
a man can inherit his religion as he does his 
lands." Alas ! how little is gained in such a 
case by the battle of mitre against mitre, of 
one hierarchy against another, of the triumph of 
12* 



138 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

protestantism over catholicity ! Within the pale 
of either, doubtless, there are pious persons, 
who, amidst the rubbish of the creeds, cull out 
the essential elements of the christian faith, 
practise them in their life, and find their way to 
heaven. But the tendency of that order of things 
under which they live, is to lead the great mass 
to substitute the outward service of Christianity 
for its inward spirit, the form for the power, the 
sign for the thing signified. Some simple pow- 
erful principle is needed, which can be easily 
apprehended by the multitude, and in its work- 
ing heave from its very base this mighty fabric 
of secular corruption. Such is the principle 
of which we speak, which we believe will 
be in God's hand as "a new sharp thresh- 
ing instrument, having teeth, to thresh the 
mountains, and beat them small, and make 
the hills as chaff." All ages have proved its 
power. It glowed in the heart of Arnold of 
Brescia, when by his words all Rome was in- 
spired to rise and dethrone the Pope. It reigned 
in the bosoms of the Waldenses, when they 
were anathematized by the priesthood, harassed 
by inquisitors, driven from their homes amidst 
the snows of winter, scattered through Bohemia, 
Poland, Lithuania, Provence, the caverns of the 
neighboring Alps, and yet remained faithful unto 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 139 

death. It quickened the spirit of Milton, when 
he cried — 

Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, whose bones 

Lie scattered on the Alpine mountains cold ; 

Even them who kept thy truth so pure of old, 
When all our fathers worshipped stocks and stones, 
Forget not ; in thy book record their groans 

Who were thy sheep, and in their ancient fold 

Slain by the bloody Piedmontese, that rolled 
Mother and infant down the rocks. Their moans 

The vales redoubled to the hills, and they 
To heaven. Their martyred blood and ashes sow 

O'er all tli' Italian fields where still doth sway 
A triple tyrant ; that from these may grow 

A hundred fold, who having learned thy way, 
Early may fly the Babylonian wo I 

It kindled in his heart a pure devotion, when, 
having returned from Italy to take part in the 
contest for freedom at home, he breathed his 
prayer to Heaven, saying, " Thou, therefore, 
that sitst in light and glory unapproachable, 
Parent of angels and men ! next, Thee I im- 
plore Omnipotent King, Redeemer of that lost 
remnant, whose nature thou didst assume ; inef- 
fable and everlasting Love ! And thou, the 
third subsistence of divine Infinitude, Illumi- 
nating Spirit, the joy and solace of created 
things. One tri-personal Godhead, look upon 
this thy poor and almost spent and expiring 
church, leave her not thus a prey to these im- 
portunate wolves that wait and think long till 



140 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

they devour thy tender flock, these wild boars 
that have broke into thy vineyard, and left the 
print of their polluting hoofs on the souls of thy 
servants ! O let them not bring about their 
damned designs that stand now at the entrance 
of the bottomless pit, expecting the watchword, 
to open and let out those dreadful locusts and 
scorpions, to reinvolve ns in that pitchy cloud 
of infernal darkness, where we shall never more 
see the sun of thy truth again, never hope for the 
cheerful dawn, nor hear the bird of morning 
sing !"* We believe it is a principle which will 
be caught by other mighty minds, and diffuse its 
inspiring energy through coming generations, 
till at last the church shall stand forth in the 
beauty of her pristine independence, and though 
our outward order may not be uniformly ob- 
served, the victories of a spiritual and apostolic 
Christianity shall be hailed and celebrated 
through the nations, on whom the sun of right- 
eousness will then have arisen with healing in 
his beams. 

III. Although I have occupied so much time 
in looking back upon the annals of the past, yet 
I cannot forbear ere I close, to call upon you, in 
view of the lessons of history and our position 

* Milton's prose works, p. 933. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 141 

in the world, to feel the necessity of our cultiva- 
ting as a people the elements offuttire progress. 
It would be ruinous to any community to count 
themselves already to have attained, or to be 
already perfect. The spiritual nature of Christ- 
ianity and the possession of liberty, urge us alike 
to put forth all our moral might in doing good, 
promoting virtue, in exemplifying and extending 
the influence of pure religion. Liberty is a 
sacred trust, a gift of heaven, and he who has it, 
may well '' rejoice with trembling," lest he prove 
unfaithful to it. Liberty is only a means of 
good ; spiritual progress is the end to which it 
stands properly related, and he who loses sight 
of this connexion, may err as fatally in idolizing 
liberty as others have erred in idolizing uniform- 
ity. Liberty only removes the burdens with 
which the human spirit has been heavy laden, 
and gives all the powers of the mind and the 
affections of the heart free play ; it does not hold 
forth the grand and ultimate object of exertion. 
This, Christianity holds forth, Avhen she bids us 
labor to promote the good of mankind, the true 
dignity of the church, and the honor of him who 
hath called us to glory and virtue. 

In '' reaching forth to things which are before,' ' 
we are loudly called upon by the signs of the 
times Avhich utter the voice of Providence, to be 
zealous in the diffusion of light and knowledge 



142 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

among ourselves and around us. To set a high 
standard of secular and christian education for 
our youth, and to furnish every facihty to our 
rising ministers for the cultivation of knowledge, 
should be considered not only as a wise policy, 
but an imperative duty. To the first object, 
the whole public are becoming more and more 
alive ; the second demands of us a more con- 
centrated attention. In pursuing it, the conduct 
of our ancestors in England, may shed light 
upon our way. As soon as sufficient liberty 
was allowed them for open and efficient organi- 
zation, a Baptist convention in London, called 
upon all the churches to raise a general fund for 
a twofold purpose ; first, to aid poor churches, 
and secondly, " to assist those v/ho may be dis- 
posed for study, have an inviting gift, and are 
sound in fundamentals, in attaining to the 
knowledge of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew 
languages." As early as 1689, measures were 
taken to carry this design into effect, and while 
we rejoice to see that from their deep poverty 
" the riches of their liberality abounded," Ave 
would fain open our eyes and hearts to the 
influence of such an example. 

It becomes us too, to cherish in a higher 
degree than ever, the missionary spirit. As it 
exists in a free and enlightened mind, it is 
another name for christian philanthropy. It 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 143 

was the glory of the first age of Christianity, and 
1 trust that in future times, it will appear to 
have been the glory of the present century. In 
ages past, establishments of religion have tended 
to destroy it, not only because they corrupted 
the church, but because, from its very nature, 
an established church is anti-7nissionary. Where 
a state directs ecclesiastical affairs, its relation 
to other states, forbids much agency in the 
spread of religion, because religion then assumes 
a national and political aspect. However pure 
may be the faith of the church, and however 
desirous she may be to extend it, she is crippled 
by such a connexion. After this country became 
independent of England, the English Church 
could not even consecrate bishops for America, 
until an act of Parliament had given her liberty 
to do so. Thence, Dr. Provost and Dr. White, 
went over to England, '' and on the 4th of Feb- 
ruary, 1787, were consecrated according to an 
act of Parliament^ by Dr. Moore, Archbishop of 
Canterbury.* Since that day, the Episcopal 
church in this land has become, as a church, 
devoted to the cause of missions, and appears in 
a new and noble attitude, which she could never 
have assumed had not the formal bond between 
her and the church of England been broken. 

•Caswell's America and the American Church. 



144 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

In no period since the times of the apostles, 
have christians been urged by stronger motives 
to engage in the work of missions, than are those 
of the present day. What numerous doors are 
open ! what facihties are furnished for spreading 
knowledge ! what means of multiplying power ! 
what wide and inviting fields are ready for the 
harvest ! and what a remarkable combination of 
events, have roused our church at large, to en- 
gage in the enterprise ! In the year 1807, a young 
man left the University of this city, professedly 
a Deist. Having been induced to commence a 
resolute examination of the evidences of Christ- 
ianity, his conversion was the consequence. 
Longing then to spread the gospel in some Pagan 
land, he sailed for India on his heavenly errand. 
While on his way, being earnestly engaged in 
studying the bible, prayerfully and anew, in 
order to ascertain the will of God, as to the 
proper mode of building up the church on heathen 
ground, he was led to embrace our doctrines 
touching the constitution of the church. He 
then appealed to us for co-operation. The 
church heard the call, concerted measures for 
his support, and sent him many helpers. Since 
then she has lifted up her eyes, looked upon the 
world as the field of her labor, and is seeking to 
send broadcast over it the good seed of the 
word. Mr. Judson, our first missionary, still 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 145 

lives, surroiTiided with many converts and fel- 
low-workers, and our Board of Missions have 
now under their care, 66 stations. Of these 15 
are among the Indian tribes of America, 16 in 
Europe, 2 in Africa, and 33 in Asia. These 
embrace 45 churches containing 2000 members, 
68 schools containing 1500 pupils, and there are 
connected with them 106 missionaries and as- 
sistants, 43 of whom are preachers. 

Important, however, as is missionary zeal 
springing from love to truth and goodness, we 
are called upon by the voice of the Divine 
Spirit, the voice of his word, and the voice of the 
universal church, to cherish in connexion with 
it, an enlarged and cordial spirit of christian 
union. It is not a documentary union of sects 
of which we speak, which in the present state 
of the world is not practicable, and which if it 
were, would accomphsh but little good. It is 
not any visible fellowship produced by laying 
our scruples of conscience as a sacrifice on the 
altar of uniformity. It is a union of spirit ; that 
which Jesus desired that his followers might so 
exhibit as to make an impression on the world 
of the holy power of his religion ; that which 
he inculcated when he rebuked his disciples for 
opposing one, who did good in his name with- 
out being united to their visible association. 
Notwithstanding the collisions of ecclesiastical 
13 



146 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

bodies, many signs indicate that the hearts of 
christians at large, are throbbing with desire for 
a hoher and firmer union than has heretofore 
existed. It is breathed more often from the 
hps of prayer, it is uttered from the pulpit, pro- 
claimed by the press, and now and then devel- 
oped in some new " plan of union. " It is an 
auspicious omen. It is a mark of progress. It 
is a natural result of the freedom of religion. 
It might justly be expected, where truth " is not 
bound,'* where discussion has full scope, that in 
process of time there would be diffused among 
christians a more accurate knowledge of each 
other's position, and that thence there would be 
awakened a deeper sense of those inward affin- 
ities which are far stronger bonds than any out- 
ward formularies. For ourselves we have no 
new plan of union to propose. We believe in 
none. But we have firm faith in the workings 
of a free Christianity to produce that enlarged- 
ness of heart, that regard for the right of private 
judgment, that respect for mental independence, 
that candor, courtesy, and love of truth, from 
which a real and enduring union will arise. 
We cannot legislate it into being. Only let us 
as christians develope in action the principles 
that are common to us, tliink more of our points^ 
of agreement than of difference, respect each 
other's liberty, declare our opinions franldy and 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 147 

fraternally, and '• as far as we have attained 
walk by the same rule and mind the same 
thing," and then will the Saviour's prayer for 
the oneness of the faithful already have been 
fulfilled in us, and the elements of a union will 
have begun to germinate which will expand 
into a more beauteous bloom, and ripen into 
richer harvests of enduring fruit, in proportion 
to the increase of light, the progress of society, 
and the advance of a christian civilization. 

Full as we are of hope for the future, confi- 
dent that goodness rules the universe, that the 
Almighty is carrying forward a profound plan to 
a glorious issue, which shall make known even 
in heavenly places his manifold wisdom, it is a 
natural wish that we could live to see the effects 
of various causes now at work, on the destinies 
of men. At such a moment we are touched 
with a fresh and vivid sense of the shortness of 
life. How brief the space allotted to us here ! 
Yet the wish to live, though it spring from an 
interest in the fortunes of our race, pertains to 
the weakness and the childhood of our nature, 
not to its manly wisdom. The religion of Christ 
discloses to us higher relations and brighter 
scenes than those which engage us now, in 
which, however, our sympathies with mankind 
shall not cease. We are following fast in the 
track of departed generations. Our destinies 



148 HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 

will soon be linked with those, whose names we 
have celebrated, whose actions we have praised 
or censnred, and who are now reaping the 
results of those elements of weal or wo, which 
were here at work in the formation of their 
character. The thought is apt to cast over the 
soul a shade of melancholy, which, however, 
prepares it to feel the truth, that it should be 
our great care on earth to leave some substantial 
proof that we have not lived in vain, that thus 
each of us, here and hereafter, 

" An angel's happiness may know ; 
May bless the earth while in the world above. 
The good begun by us shall onward flow, 
In many a branching stream, and wider grow." 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX. 



Note A. — Page 47. 

Baillie's letters furnish ample proof of the aversion 
which the Presbyterian party cherished against a tol- 
eration of other sects. Speaking as one of the West- 
minster Assembly, he says, " we have begun a business 
of great consequence. In the time of this anarchy, the 
divisions of the people do much increase ; the Inde- 
pendent party grows, but the Anabaptists more." " A 
mighty faction is arisen to prefer liberty of conscience 
for all sects." He (John Godwin) is a bitter enemy 
to Presbytery, and is openly for a full liberty of con- 
science to all sects, even Turks, Jews, Papists. This 
way is very pleasant to many men. That faction 
increases mightily in number, hopes, and pride ; but if 
it pleases God to give us good news from York, we will 
tell them more of our minds." — [Letters II, 14-15.] 

" Our next work is, to give our advice what to do 
for suppressing of Anabaptists, Antinomians, and other 
sectaries. This will be hard work ; yet so much as 
concerns us, will be quickly despatched ; I hope in one 
session." — [11, 55.] 



152 APPENDIX. 

Note B.— Page 47. 

John Tombes, B. D., was one of the most learned 
theologians and eloquent preachers of England in the 
seventeenth century. He was born at Bewdly, in 
Worcestershire, in 1603, was educated at Oxford, and 
when only twentyone years of age, was appointed Cat- 
echetical Lecturer at Magdalen Hall. He continued 
to be employed at the University about seven years, 
and then was settled in the parish of Lemster. First 
amongst those who sought a reformation of the church, 
he preached a sermon on that subject, which was print- 
ed by an order of the House of Commons. On this 
account much opposition was excited against him, so 
that when the civil war commenced, some of the king's 
forces coming into his neighborhood, he was driven 
from his home and plundered of all his property. 

He fled to Bristol, and was well received. Through 
the kindness of General Fiennes, who commanded 
there, he became minister of the parish of All-Saints, 
in that city. But in 1643, Bristol having been taken 
by the king's party, Mr. Tombes was again driven 
from his home, and with difficulty escaped to London. 

While residing in London, his sentiments on the sub- 
ject of baptism became fully matured. He had com- 
menced the investigation of the subject at Oxford, and 
there became satisfied that every passage of scripture 
quoted in favor of infant baptism is invalid, except one. 
That one was, I. Cor. 7 : 14. "For the unbelieving 
husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving 
wife is sanctified by the husband ; else were your 
children unclean ; but now are they holy." But after 



APPENDIX. 153 

reasoning with one of the Baptists at Bristol, and read- 
ing the comments of Camerarins, Musculus, Melanc- 
thon, and Beza, on the passage, he gave it up entirely. 

He then called together several of the London min- 
isters, told them of his difficulties, and asked them if 
they could help him. The question he proposed, was, 
" what scripture is there for infant baptism ?" He 
received no satisfactory answer. 

When the Westminster assembly of divines met in 
London, for the avowed purpose of reforming religion 
in England and Scotland, Mr. Tombes was informed 
by one of them, that a committee had been appointed 
to consider the subject of infant baptism. He immedi- 
ately drew up in Latin his reasons for doubting of the 
lawfulness of that practice, and sent them to Mr. Whit- 
aker, the chairman of the committee, expressing the 
wish that they would either remove his objections, or 
extend their reform to that ordinance. They did nei- 
ther of these, but in the end, passed a vote censuring 
those who should deny baptism to infants, or dispute 
on that subject. 

About four years after that, he published his treatise 
against infant baptism, and his examen of Mr. Marshal's 
sermon, in both of which he exhibited extensive learn- 
ing and diligent research. 

At length the people of Bewdly, his native town, 
called him to be their minister. While there, he con- 
tinued to discuss the subject of infant baptism, and 
seeing at last no prospect of a reformation in the estab- 
lished church on this point, he was baptized on a pro- 
fession of his faith, and gathered a separate church, 
although he continued to occupy the parish pulpit. 



154 APPENDIX. 

While residing at Bevvdly, he had a public discus- 
sion with Baxter, on the subject of baptism, in relation 
to which it is said by Anthony Wood, (in his Athense 
Oxonienses, being " an exact account of all the writers 
and bishops who have had their education at the Uni- 
versity of Oxford from the year 1500 to 1600,") "that 
all scholars there and present, who knew the way of 
disputing and managing arguments, did conclude that 
Tombes got the better of Baxter by far."* 

Mr. Tombes was a powerful writer. Several of his 
sermons adapted to the times, were printed by order 
of Parliament. He enjoyed the esteem of Bishop 
Sanderson and also of Bishop Barlow. Dr. Calamy, 
in his Life of Baxter, speaking of Mr. Tombes, says 
of him, " Vv^hom all the world must own to have been 
a very considerable man and an excellent scholar, 
how disinclined soever they may be to his particular 
opinions." The catalogue of his works contains the 
titles of twentyeight volumes. Having heard that the 
Baptists were persecuted in Massachusetts, he sent his 
examen of Marshall's sermon to the ministers, with the 
following letter : 

To all the Elders of the Churches of Christ in New- 
England, to the Pcistor and Teacher of the Church 
of God at Boston, there, present. 
Reverend Brethren, 

Understanding that there is some disquiet in your 
churches about Pa^dobaptism, and being moved by 
some that honor you much in the Lord, and desire 



* Alhen. Oxon. vol. Ill, p. 1063 — quoted in Orme's Life of 
Baxter, II, p. 248. 



APPENDIX. 155 

your comfortable account at the day of Christ, that I 
would yield that a copy of my examen of Master Mar- 
shall his sermon of infant baptism might be transcribed 
to be sent to you ; I have consented thereto, and do 
commend it to your examination, in like manner, as 
you may perceive by the reading of it, I did to Master 
Marshall. Not doubting but that you will, as in God's 
presence, and accountable to Christ Jesus weigh the 
thing; remembering that [saying] of our Lord Christ, 
John 7 : 24, Judge not according to appearance, hut 
judge righteous judgment. To the blessing of him who 
is your God and our God, your judge and our judge, I 
leave you and the flock of God over which the Holy 
Ghost hath made you overseers, and rest 

Your brother and fellow-servant 

in the work of Christ, 

JOHN TOMBES. 
From my study at the Temple, in London, May 
25th, 1645. 

The manuscript referred to in this letter, is in the 
Antiquarian Library at Worcester. 



Henry Jesse y, M. A., was a native of Yorkshire, 
the son of a clergyman of the Church of England, and 
early became a student of St. John's College, Cam- 
bridge. When tvventyone years of age, while at the 
University, he became a decided christian, and then 
began to direct his studies with reference to the minis- 
try. In 1627, he received episcopal ordination, and 
in 1633, became Rector of Aughton, in Yorkshire. 



156 APPENDIX. 

In the course of a year, however, he was removed from 
his parish, for refusing to practise all the cerenrionicvS 
enjoined by the Rubric and Canons, and for presuming 
to remove a crucifix which had been set up there. 

In 1635, he visited London, in company with his 
friend and patron. Sir Matthew Bointon, and being 
highly esteemed as a preacher, was invited by a con- 
gregational church to become their pastor. He 
accepted their invitation in 1637, and labored among 
them successfully. It appeared however that from 
year to year, larger and larger numbers of his church 
were adopting the sentiments of the Baptists, and join- 
ing that denomination. Many of them being persons 
of note, the subject of baptism engaged his attention. 
A fresh study of the scriptures and of antiquity, led 
him to change his views of the mode ; and he thence 
proceeded to practise immersion only, although he 
applied it to infants. The reasons which he assigned 
to his church for this change, were, 1st, the original 
meaning of the term rendered baptism ; 2d, the exam, 
pies of baptism in the scriptures ; 3d, the spiritual 
mysteries of which the rite is an emblem, namely, the 
death and resurrection of Christ, our own death to sin, 
and rising to newness of life. It was not till 1644, 
that he became convinced that there was no warrant 
in the scriptures for applying the rile to infants, and 
then he was baptized on a profession of his faith, by 
Rev. Hansard Knollys. 

Being well versed in the Greek and Hebrew lan- 
guages, the Syriac and Chaldee dialects,, and a devoted 
student of the Bible, he meditated a new translation of 
the Old and New Testaments. By his correspondence. 



APPENDIX. 157 

he engaged Mr. Row, Hebrew Professor at Aberdeen, 
and other literary men in this undertaking. They 
advanced far in their design, but the turn given to pub- 
lic affairs both in church and state, by the restoration, 
defeated all their purposes. 

Mr. Jessey was distinguished in his day for his inter- 
est in the welfare of the Jews. When intelligence 
reached England, that those of them who were living 
at Jerusalem, had been reduced to a state of extreme 
suffering, he exerted himself in their behalf, and in a 
short time three hundred pounds sterling were collected 
and sent to them. In 1650, when the Jews were per- 
mitted to return and trade in England as formerly, he 
wrote a treatise on the Messiah, addressed to them, 
which was highly commended by a number of the 
assembly of divines, and was prepared in Hebrew for 
dispersion amongst the Jews of all nations. 

Distinguished for his piety, industry and learning, 
Mr. Jessey commanded universal esteem. He was 
for the most part free from persecution, until the res- 
toration, when he was committed to prison for non- 
conformity, and died there in the triumphs of faith, on 
the 4th of September, 1663, in the sixtythird year of 
his age. His life was published in 1671, and from it 
Crosby has drawn the materials of the ample sketch 
which we find in his pages. 



Daniel Dyke, was born at Epping, in Essex, in the 

year 1617. He was the son of a clergyman of the 

Church of England, was educated at Cambridge, and 

became rector of Great Haddam, in Hertfordshire. 

14 



158 APPENDIX. 

When Cromwell came to be Lord Protector, Dyke 
was appointed one of his chaplains in ordinary, and in 
1653, when examiners were appointed by government 
to try such as should be admitted to livings in the estab- 
lished church, he was chosen to be one of them. 
Not long after he left his rectorship in the established 
church, he became minister of the Baptist church in 
Devonshire Square, London, where he labored until 
his death, in 1688. 

John Gosnold was a minister of the Church of 
England, and was ejected by the act of uniformity. 
He united with the Baptists on the ground of their 
conformity to the Scriptures in the constitution of the 
church. He thought that he saw in the Bible no more 
authority for infant baptism, than for the other ceremo- 
nies which are sanctioned by tradition and the authority 
of councils. He became pastor of a church in London, 
and notwithstanding the change in his sentiments, he 
continued to be intimate with many men of high stand- 
ing in the establishment. Dr. Tillotson, afterwards 
Archbishop of Canterbury, used to attend his week-day 
lecture. Dr. Calamy says of him, " He was bred in 
the Charter-house School, and in Pembroke Hall, 
Cambridge ; and was afterwards Chaplain to Lord 
Grey. He was against infant baptism. He was 
deprived of his liberty of preaching, and forced to hide, 
though he was always peaceably minded, and never 
gave any disturbance to the government." He died 
in the year 1678, in the sixtythird year of his age, and 
was interred at the burying ground near Bunhillfields, 
where a tombstone was erected to his memory. 



APPENDIX. 159 

Hansard Knollys was a native of Chalkwell, in 
Lincolnshire, was well educated at home, and gradu- 
ated at the University of Cambridge. He became 
pious while at the University, and after he left it, was 
master of the free school at Gainsborough. He was 
ordained by the Bishop of Peterborough, first a deacon, 
then a presbyter of the church of England, and after- 
wards received the living of Humberton from the 
Bishop of Lincoln. He had not possessed it more than 
three years, before he began to feel scruples of con- 
science touching the usages of the church, such as the 
sign of the cross in baptism, the surplice, and the ad- 
mission of men promiscuously to the Lord's Supper. 
He thence resigned his living, yet preached in different 
parishes, with the connivance of the bishop, whose 
personal feelings toward him seem to have been friendly. 
He afterwards joined the Baptists, and preached with 
great success in London, It appears that he was much 
strengthened in his change of opinion, by finding that 
inasmuch as while preaching in the establishment his 
labors were not the means of converting any one, yet 
" when he set out upon another foundation, and expe- 
rienced more of God's teaching and assistance in the 
work, he quickly found to his comfort, that from thence- 
forward he continued to receive many seals of his 
ministry." He appears to have been a man of fin© 
scholarship, and having been forced to fly to New-Eng- 
land to escape the persecution of the high commission 
court, is honorably mentioned by Cotton Mather among 
those " whose names deserve to live in our books for 
their piety." 



160 APPENDIX. 

Henry Denne was a graduate of the University of 
Cambridge, received orders from the Bishop of St. 
David's, in the year 1630, and was settled in the parish 
of Pynton, in Hertfordshire. At a visitation held in 
his county in 1661, he was appointed to preach the 
sermon to the clergy and gentry. With a heart set 
on the reformation of the church, he exposed the exist- 
ing abuses with a fearless and powerful eloquence. 
Much excitement followed that occasion, and it seemed 
at that time, that Mr. Denne would have been satisfied 
with the established church, if conformity to the papal 
ceremonies were not enforced. But when in the 
change of times, the government avowed the intention 
to reform religion, Mr. Denne devoted himself more 
closely to the study of the scriptures, in order to aid in 
that great work. By this means he became convinced 
that infant baptism has no warrant in the bible, and 
following out his conviction, was baptized on a profes- 
sion of his faith, in 1643, and joined the church which 
was then under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Lamb. 
He afterwards suffered much, but was faithful unto 
death. He possessed great force of character, mani- 
fested an enlightened and warm attachment to his 
opinions, and did much to promote them by public dis- 
cussion. His writings breathe a christian spirit, and 
do honor both to his intellect and his heart. 



William Collins was copastor of a Baptist church 
in London, in connexion with Dr. Nehemiah Coxe. 
After obtaining the esteem of Busby, young Collins 
travelled in France and Italy, and on returning to his 



APPENDIX. 161 

own country, rejected every offer that was made to 
induce him to johi the establishment, " for it was con- 
science not humor that made him a dissenter." In his 
funeral sermon which was printed in London in 1702, 
it is said, that having set apart a day for fasting and 
prayer, in order to seek divine direction as to the dis- 
posal of himself in the exercise of his ministry, on that 
very evening he received an invitation to settle as a 
pastor, from a church which met in that part of Lon- 
don called Petty France. The coincidence made a 
favorable impression on his mind, and a connexion was 
formed which continued until his death. 



Carolus Maria De Veil, D. D. was a native of 
France. He was born of Jewish parents, and edu- 
cated in the Jewish religion. By the study of the 
prophecies of the Old Testament, compared with the 
statements of the Evangelists, he became convinced of 
the Messiahship of Jesus, and professed himself a 
christian. The announcement of this so enraged his 
father, that with a drawn sword he attempted to kill 
him, but was prevented by some who were present. 
De Veil joined the Roman Catholics, was celebrated 
among them as a preacher, and was made Doctor of 
Divinity in the University of Anjou. 

In 1672, he published his Commentary on the Gos- 
pels, and from the learning he there exhibited, he was 
appointed to aid in writing against the Huguenots, the 
chief opponents of the Romish Church in France. 
Being thus led to study the Protestant controversy, he 
was convinced of his error and became a Protest- 
14* 



162 APPENDIX. 

ant himself. Threatened with persecution, he fled to 
Holland, and thence crossed to England, where he 
became intimate with the most eminent men of the 
church of England, such as Stillingfleet, Tillotson, and 
Compton, Bishop of London. 

In 1678, he published a new edition of his Commen- 
tary, and corrected the popish errors with which it 
abounded. Being urged to prosecute his literary 
labors, the Bishop of London gave him free access to 
his library. There he met with some writings of the 
English Baptists, and was struck with the fact that they 
so clearly developed the true Protestant principles. 
In the Bishop's family there was a young woman who 
was much ridiculed by the other domestics for being a 
Baptist. By means of her, however, he obtained an 
interview with Rev. Hansard Knollys, at the house of 
a nobleman near at hand, where Mr. Knollys used to 
visit. Afterwards he became acquainted with Gos- 
nold, and united with the Baptists under his ministry. 
It is said that on this account he lost most of his former 
employments, and most of his old friends, except Dr. 
Tillotson, who was distinguished for a noble magnan- 
imity of mind, which led him to esteem the merits of 
other men, however much they differed in opinion 
from himself. 

De Veil was held in high esteem among the Protest- 
ants in France. A very friendly letter from Claude 
was prefixed to his Commentary on the Acts, which 
was published in 1685. We do not hear of his being 
settled over any church after he united with the Bap- 
tists, but that they, " in consideration of his abilities* 



APPENDIX. 168 

on his dismission from his place, raised him a salary 
which he enjoyed till his death."* 



William Dell,M. A., was educated at the University 
of Cambridge, and was a clergyman of the church of 
England, officiating in the parish of Yeldon, in Bedford- 
shire. Nothing is known of his holding any connexion 
with the Baptists, until the civil wars, when the subject 
of reforming the church became agitated. To that 
question he brought all the energy of his intellect, and 
all the warmth of his heart. Deriving from his Bible 
clear views of the spirituality of the present dispensa- 
tion, he announced the sentiment, that " to make the 
whole kingdom a church was a mystery of iniquity." 
It is said by Dr. Calamy, that Baxter's most frequent 
disputes with Dell, was about liberty of conscience^ 
" that is, that the magistrate had nothing to do in mat- 
ters of religion by constraint or restraint, but every 
man might not only hold and believe, but preach and 
do in matters of religion what he pleased." 

In the year 1645, Mr. Dell became chaplain in the 
army, and preached regularly at the head-quarters of 
Sir Thomas Fairfax. He was intimate with Oliver 
Cromwell, and the leading men of those times. In 
1646, he was appointed to preach before the House 
of Commons on a public fast-day. In the course of 
his sermon he took occasion to speak of the evil of 
persecution, and of using external force in promoting 
religion. The preacher who followed him, animad- 

* Crosby 4 : p. 259. 



164 APPENDIX. 

verted on that part of Mr. Dell's discourse, and defended 
the right of the magistrate to interfere in matters of 
conscience. This led to public discussion by means 
of the press, and thus Mr. Dell stood forth as a leader 
of the party who favored religious liberty, and Mr. 
Love, his opponent, a Presbyterian, was at the head of 
those who advocated persecution. 

In 1649, Mr. Dell was appointed master of Caiua 
College, Cambridge, and retained his station until he 
was ejected by the act of uniformity. 



Vavasor Powell was a native of Radnorshire, in 
South Wales, where his name has been well known for 
nearly two centuries, and not only there, but through- 
out the whole Principality, has been remembered with 
sentiments of reverence and affection. He was born 
in 1617, was educated at Jesus College, in Oxford, and 
went into orders in the established church, about the 
year 1640. In his youth he was of a gay and impet- 
uous turn of mind, yet, while at Oxford, made great 
proficiency in the knowledge of languages, and in 
various branches of literature. 

A considerable time elapsed after he became a cler- 
gyman, before he knew any thing of experimental reli- 
gion. In his early days he had been much addicted to 
a profanation of the Sabbath, and an instance of this 
kind was made the occasion of arousing his attention 
and converting him to God, " Being one Lord's day, 
a stander-by, and beholder of those that broke the 
Sabbath by divers games, and being there himself, in 
his clerical dress, or as he calls it, in the habit of a 



APPENDIX. 165 

foolish shepherd, he was ashamed to play with them, 
yet took as much pleasure therein as if he had ; a 
certain Puritan in the mean time passing by, and seeing 
him there, came to him, and very mildly asked him, 
" Doth it become you. sir, that are a scholar, and one 
that teacheth others, to break the Lord's Sabbath thus?" 
To which he answered, like the scoffers in Malachi, 
" Wherein do I break it ? you see me only stand by ; 
I do not play at all." " But," replied he, " you find 
your own pleasure herein, by looking on, and this God 
forbids in his holy word." So he opened his Bible and 
read these words, in Isaiah, 58 : 13, particularly that 
expression, " Not finding thy own pleasure upon the. 
Sabbath day^ Such was the pertinency of the pas- 
sage, and the power that came with the word, that he 
was quite silenced and so far convicted, as to resolve 
never to transgress in this way again. 

From this small beginning, a thorough change of 
mind and character soon ensued, to which the ministry 
of the pious and zealous Walter Cradock and other 
puritans, who were beginning to break out in Wales, 
greatly contributed. He soon became established in 
knowledge, and began to preach among his country- 
men in the character of an itinerant evangelist.* 

After this era of his life, Mr. Powell became an in- 
trepid champion of the Cross, and his history is full of 
adventure. He suffered much from persecution, which 
waxed hotter in proportion to his increase of popularity 

* Cambro — British Biography, by Rev. William Richards. 
LL. D., p. 143. London, 1820. 



166 APPENDIX. 

as a preacher. On that account, in 1642, he left 
Wales, and went to London. 

The intrepidity of his character may be judged of 
in some degree from the fact, that while residing at 
Dantford, in Kent, the plague broke out in the town. 
Many houses were shut up, and the dead bodies were 
carried out by his chamber wall and window, yet did 
he not suspend his labors, but preached constantly three 
times a week ; and though some that had the sickness 
upon them came to hear, both he and his family escaped 
the contagion. 

Vavasor Powell was at one time a warm friend of 
Cromwell, on account of his love of religious liberty; but 
when Cromwell seized the protectorate, Powell openly 
denounced him as an usurper, and earnestly remon- 
strated against it with the men in power. Neverthe- 
less, he was the first of the nonconformist ministers 
who suffered under the reign of Charles II. Even 
before the arrival of the king, the agents of the gov- 
ernment had marked him for their prey. The most 
relentless persecution was then carried on in Wales, 
without respect to age or sex. Mr. Powell was cruelly 
treated, and at last died in prison, in October, 1670, in 
the 53d year of his age, and the 11th of his imprison- 
ment. 

Dr. Richards says, " he bore his last illness with 
great patience, and would bless God and say ho 
* would not entertain one hard thought of God for all 
the world,' and could scarcely be restrained at the 
very height of the disorder from acts of devotion, and 
from expressing his sentiments of zeal and piety." His 
remains were deposited in Bunhili Fields, in the pres- 



APPENDIX. 167 

ence of an innumerable crowd of dissenters, who 
attended him to his grave. The inscription on his 
tomb, drawn up, as Wood says, by his dear friend 
Edward Bagsham, describes him as " A successful 
teacher of the past, a sincere witness of the present, 
and an useful example of the future age ; who in the 
defection of many, found mercy to be faithful ; for 
which being called to many prisons, he was there tried, 
and would not accept deliverance, expecting a better 
resurrection." Dr. Toulmin observes that Dr. Grey, 
after Wood, has vilified Mr. Powell, by retailing the 
falsehoods of a piece entitled Strena Vavasoriensis, 
Mark Noble is also to be classed among the vilifiers 
of this good man, without regarding the pieces written 
in his defence. Noble represents him as a fool, a poor 
infatuated wretch, a wild enthusiast, a seditious person, 
fifth-monarchy man, and one who perhaps aspired to 
be prime minister to King Jesus, &c. But there is no 
truth in all this, at least not in the sense in which this 
violent writer would have it understood. Men of his 
complexion will always despise, revile and persecute 
such men as Vavasor Powell. Neal, indeed, followed 
by Palmer, calls him a fifth-monarchy man ; but if he 
was so, it is certain he was not of the same sort with 
Venner and his violent adherents, but rather more in 
the way of thinking of such men as Sherwin, and 
Bishop Newton. Dr. Toulmin says, " that Mr. Pow- 
ell's sentiments were those of a Sabbatarian Baptist," 
which is a very great and unaccountable mistake. 
Any one who consults the history of his life with any 
degree of attention, may easily see that he was deci- 
dedly a First-day Baptist. In the 119th page of that 



168 APPENDIX. 

book, we are plainly told that " he was a very strict 
and conscientious observer of the Sabbath day," viz. 
the first day of the week, the Christian Sabbath, "not 
doing or speaking, on that day, what he saw lawful 
upon other days ; attending the duties thereof, from 
evening to evening," &c. With the above assertion 
of Dr. Toulmin, we may venture to class that notable 
declaration of Messrs. Neal and Palmer, that Mr. 
Powell was driven from Wales, for want of Pres- 
byterial ordination. Driven from Wales indeed he 
was, not for want of a Presbyterial ordination, but 
rather for want of high church malignity and intol- 
erance ; or, in other words, for quitting the ruling, 
or Laudean faction, and joining the Puritans, and 
preaching as he did about the country. So active and 
laborious was he in the duties of the ministry, says Dr. 
Toulm.in, that he frequently preached atjwo or three 
places in a day, and was seldom two days in the week 
throughout the year out of the pulpit ! He would 
sometimes ride a hundred miles in the week, and preach 
in every place where he could gain admittance, either 
by night or by day. He would often alight from his 
horse, and set on it any aged person whom he met with 
on the road on foot, and walk by the side for miles 
together. He was exceedingly hospitable and gene- 
rous, and would not only entertain and lodge, but 
clothe the poor and aged. He was a man of great 
humility, very conscientious and exemplary in all rela- 
tive duties, and very punctual to his word. He was a 
scholar, and his general deportment was that of a gen- 
tleman. In 1642, when he left Wales, there were not 
above one or two gathered churches ; but before the 



APPENDIX. 169 

Restoration there were above twenty distinct societies, 
consisting of from two to five hundred members, chiefly- 
planted and formed by his care and industry, in the 
principles of the Baptists." 



Thomas De Laune, was a native of Ireland, the son 
of Roman Catholic parents. He received his education 
in his own country, under the patronage of the gentle- 
man who owned the estate on which his parents lived. 
He was converted when a young man, and afterwards 
became a teacher of a grammar school in London, and 
the minister of a Baptist church. Dr. Calamy, one of 
the Chaplains to Charles II, having invited the non-con- 
formists to bring forth their strong reasons that they 
might be fairly discussed, Mr. De Laune published hia 
immortal " plea," the best work in defence of non-con- 
formity that was ever written. It passed through 
twenty editions, and Defoe, who wrote a preface to the 
eighth edition, says " the work is perfect of itself ; never 
author left behind him a more finished piece ; and I 
believe the dispute is entirely ended. If any man ask 
what we can say why the Dissenters differ from the 
church of England, and what they can plead for it, I 
can recommend no better reply than this ; let them 
answer in short Thomas De Laune, and desire the 
querist to read the book." Great as were the merits 
of his work, it was the occasion of his being cast into 
Newgate prison, where he languished and died. As 
Defoe observes, " few clearer heads, greater scholars 
or masters of argument, ever graced the English 
nation." 

15 



170 APPENDIX. 

In relation to John Bunyan, whose name is men- 
tioned in connexion with that of De Laune, it would 
be superfluous to say one word here, for the purpose 
of giving information respecting his life or character. 
But in view of a passage which occurs in Southey's 
Life of Bunyan, I cannot forbear observing in this 
place, how faint a glimpse the poet laureate seems to 
have had of the truth, that religious liberty is an ele- 
ment of the religious faith of the Baptists. Southey 
defends the prelates of Bunyan's day, against the charge 
of high-handed oppression in committing him to prison 
for preaching the gospel. He thinks that Bunyan 
should not have persisted in preaching with the spirit 
of a martyr, but should have considered, " that he was 
neither called upon to renounce any thing that he did 
believe, nor to profess any thing that he did not be- 
lieve ; that the congregation to which he belonged, 
held, at that time, their meetings unmolested ; that 
he might have worshipped when he pleased, where 
he pleased, and how he pleased ; that he was only 
required not to go about the country holding conventi- 
cles ; and that the cause for that interdiction was, not 
that persons were admonished in such conventicles to 
labor for salvation, but that they were exhorted there 
to regard with abhorrence that Protestant Church 
which is essentially part of the constitution of this king- 
dom, from the doctrines of which church, except in 
the point of infant baptism, he did not differ a hair's 
breadth. This I am bound to observe," he says, 
" because Bunyan has been, and no doubt will continue 
to be, most wrongfully represented as having been the 
victim of intolerant laws, and prelatical oppression." 



APPENDIX. 171 

It would seem, to say the least, that Dr. Southey 
could not have seen all the points of the case when 
he penned this paragraph, since it is so evident 
that Bunyan considered the mere fact that a Pro- 
testant church should be essentially a part of the 
constitution of a kingdom, as a flagrant violation of the 
constitutional laws of Christianity. He felt his own 
religious liberty — his liberty of preaching the gospel 
to be invaded, and he meant to maintain it, even unto 
death. At the same time, he meant to say nothing 
which should tend to disturb the public peace, or alien- 
ate men's hearts from the civil government. Southey's 
own account of Bunyan's interview with the Clerk of 
the Peace, shows this. After he had lain several 
months in prison, the clerk visited him, to persuade 
him to obedience. " But Bunyan insisted that the law, 
being intended against those who designed to do evil in 
their meetings, did not apply to him. He was told that 
he might exhort his neighbors in private discourse, if 
he did not call together an assembly of people ; this he 
might do, and do much good thereby, without breaking 
the law. But, said Bunyan, if I may do good to one, 
why not to two? and if to two, why not to four, and so to 
eight, and so on ? Aye, said the Clerk, and to a hun- 
dred, I warrant you ! Yes, Bunyan answered, I think 
I should not be forbidden to do as much good as I can. 
They then began to discuss the question whether under 
pretence of doing good, harm might not be done, by se- 
ducing the people, and Bunyan allowed that there might 
be many who designed the destruction of the govern- 
ment : let them, he said, be punished, and let him be 
punished also should he do any thing not becoming a 



172 APPENDIX. 

man and a Christian ; if error or heresy could be proved 
upon him, he would disown it, even in the market place; 
but to the truth, he would stand to the last drop of his 
blood. Bound in conscience he held himself, to obey 
all righteous laws, whether there were a king or not ; 
and if he offended against them, patiently to bear the 
penalty. And to cut off all occasion of suspicion as 
touching the harmlessness of his doctrines, he would 
willingly give any one the notes of all his sermons, for 
he sincerely deeired to live in peace and to submit to 
the present authority. " But there are two ways of 
obeying," he observed ; " the one to do that which I 
in my conscience do believe that I am bound to do, 
actively ; and where I cannot obey actively, there I 
am willing to lie down, and to suffer what they shall 
do unto me." And here the interview ended, Bunyan 
thanking him for his " civil and meek discoursing," and 
breathing a wish that they might meet in Heaven." 



Note C— Paoje 62. 



The following are Tyndal's words contained in the 
book referred to, and extracted by Ivimey. After 
reprobating severely the conduct of the Romish clergy 
for using a Latin form of words, he says, " The wash- 
ynge without the word helpeth not; but thorow the 
word it purifyeth and clcnseth us, as thou readest, 
Eph. 5. How Christe clenseth the congregation in the 
founteine of water thorow the word : the word is the 
promise which God hath made. Now as a preacher 



APPENDIX. 173 

in preaching the word of God saveth the hearers that 
beleve, so doeth the wasshinge in that it preacheth and 
representeth to us the promise that God hath made 
unto us in Christe, the wasshinge preacheth unto us 
that we are clensed wyth Christe's bloude shedynge 
which was an offering and a satisfaction for the synne 
of al that repent and beleve, consentynge and submyt- 
tyne themselves unto the wyl of God. The plungyne 
into the water sygnyfyeth that ive die and are hurid with 
Chryste as coserning ye old life of synne which is Ada. 
And the pulling out agayn sygnyfyeth that we ryse 
again with Christe in a new lyfe ful of the holye gooste 
which shal teach us, and gyde us, and work the wyll 
of God in us ; as thou seest Rom. 6." 



Note D.— Page 65. 

Professor Sears, of Newton Theological Institution, 
having once mentioned to the author in conversation, 
some remarks which he had heard from Dr. Neander, 
touching the case of Melancthon, in accordance with 
what is stated of him on page 65, in answer to a 
letter of inquiry for my own private information on that 
point, incidentally suggests the following additional 
facts. Planck, in his celebrated history of the Protest- 
ant Theology, in speaking of the divine manifestations 
to which some of the anabaptists laid claim, says, 
" though their revelations were not real, yet with such 
an honest enquirer after truth as Melancthon, it did not 
follow that all their doctrines were false. The former 
15* 



174 APPENDIX. 

he could therefore leave to their own fate, and yet not 
deny that the strength of their reasons in regard to 
infant baptism, made a strong, and according to his 
convictions, reasonable impression upon his mind." 

" The elector wishing to quell the controversy, dis- 
suaded the Wittenburg theologians from discussing the 
subject of infant baptism, saying he could not see what 
benefit could arise from it, as the article was not of 
much importance, and yet the rejection of it would 
create great excitement, since it had been so long hal- 
lowed in the church by the influence of Augustin, its 
defender. Melancthon said, that he " was agreed with 
the Elector, that the article of infant baptism was not 
of much importance, and that it were better not to have 
any thing to do with it, than that great doubts respect- 
ing it be excited." After confessing that the question 
was one of little importance, it was natural that he 
should follow the advice of the Elector in regard to 
his connexion with these men. Whether it were right 
in him to be so quickly, and as it would seem, so gladly 
convinced, we leave it for theology to determine."* 



Note E.— Page 68. 

An analysis of this manifesto, may not be uninter- 
esting to some readers. 

I. In the first article, the peasants set forth the ben- 
efits of public religious instruction, ask permission to 

♦Geshicte des Protestantischen Lehrbegriffs, v. II, p. 47, 5Q. 



APPENDIX. 175 

elect their own ministers to teach them the word of 
God without the traditions of men, and that they may 
have power to dismiss them if their conduct be repre- 
hensible. 

II. In the second, they represent that the laws of 
tithing in the Old Testament, ought not to be enforced 
under the present dispensation, and pray that they may 
be excused from all tythes except that of their corn, 
which they desire might be applied to the support of 
their teachers, the support of the poor, and the payment 
of public taxes. 

III. In the third, they declare their former state of 
slavery to be disgraceful to humanity, and inconsistent 
with the religion of Christ — declare their willingness to 
submit to the control of magistrates, but not to be 
slaves, unless slavery could he proved right from the holy 
scripture. 

IV. In the fourth, they complain of the injustice of 
the game laws, which had prevented them from taking 
birds or wild animals, or even chasing away those 
which devoured their herbage. They ask that pri- 
vate privileges may yield to public benefit. 

V. The fifth complains that a few men claimed all 
the forests, and that the poor could hardly obtain wood 
for fuel or repairs. It asks that this matter might be 
adjusted by the government ; or by the proprietors, if 
the forests could be proved to be private property. 

VI. The sixth set forth the innumerable and ill-timed 
services, which the lords obliged their tenants to per- 
form, which were increasing every year, and which 
had become absolutely intolerable. They ask for ad- 



176 APPENDIX. 

justment according to the laws of equity, and of Christ- 
ianity, and the warrant of ancient custom. 

VII. The seventh complains of abuses connected 
with the tenures of their lands, which had been charged 
with oppressive fines, not embraced in the original 
grants. 

VIII. In the eighth, they speak of the annual rents 
of their farms having been so much increased, as to ex- 
ceed the worth of the land. They beg the princes to 
see that these are so adjusted, that they may gain a 
livelihood by their labor. 

IX. The ninth complains of new laws being daily 
made, creating new crimes and new penalties, and all 
this not for the improvement of society, but for pre- 
tences to extort money. They ask that justice may 
not be left to private caprice, but administered accord- 
ing to ancient written forms. 

X. The tenth complains that the common lands 
which had been allowed to the poor for pasturage, had 
been monopolized by the lords, merely to maintain 
their horses for luxury and needless wars. 

XI. The eleventh declares that the demand of he- 
riots (or fines to be paid to the lord on the death of a 
tenant,) was the most inhuman of all oppressions. 
That the affliction of the widow and fatherless children 
made no impression on the officers, who increased the 
sufferings of the bereaved, by swallowing up all their 
property. They required that this custom should be 
utterly abolished. 

XII. In the twelfth they declare that they were 
willing to retract any demand which could be proved 



APPENDIX. 177 

contrary to the word of God ; and that though this 
memorial contained a list of their present grievances, 
they did not mean by this to preclude the liberty of 
making such future remonstrances as might be found 
necessary. 

There is every reason to believe that if these fair 
and forcible representations had been properly attended 
to, the peasant war in Germany had never broken out, 
and the scenes of Munster had never been enacted. 
But when such appeals were set at naught, what could 
have been expected of a mighty mass of men driven to 
desperation ? The standard of revolt once lifted up, 
drew all orders of enthusiasts around it, and when 
fanaticism once gained the ascendancy, there was no 
human voice that could " still the voice of the waves 
and the tumults of the people." 



Note F.— Page 73. 

The words of De Potter, relating to the views of the 
Vaudois, concerning baptism, are here given : " lis 
attaquerent les sacremens, reprouvant toutes les cere- 
monies du bapteme, hormis la seule ablution : encore 
eurent-ils soin que cet acte de regeneration au christ- 
ianisme, ne fut pas jamais confere a des enfans en bas 
age ; et c'est pourquoi ils rebaptisaient de nouveau 
toutes les personnes qui abandonnant 1' eglise Romaine 
demandaient a embrasser leur doctrine." 



178 APPENDIX. 

Note G.— Page 89. 

The decisive manner in which the Greek Church 
expresses the sentiment that the Romish Church has 
annihilated baptism, may be seen by the following 
extract from a work of Alexander de Stourdza, a 
writer of the Greek Church. It was published at 
Studgart in 1816. Speaking of baptism, he says, 
" The Western church has done violence both to the 
word and the idea, in practising hapism by aspersion, 
the very enunciation of which is a ludicrous contradic- 
tion. In truth the word haptizo has but one signification. 
It signifies literally and perpetually to immerse. Bap- 
tism and immersion are identical ; and to say baptism 
by aspersion, is the same as to say immersion by 
aspersion, or any other contradiction in terms. Who, 
then, perceiving this, can hesitate to render homage to 
the sage fidelity of our church, always attached to the 
doctrine and ritual of primitive Christianity." 

During the spring of the present year, while travel- 
ling in Greece, the author was struck with the fact that 
it is impossible for a Greek to associate any idea with 
the term baptism, except that of immersion. At Ka- 
laimachi, a village on the Gulf of Athens, I was intro- 
duced to a learned Greek who spoke various languages. 
We conversed respecting my country and his own. 
Among other subjects of inquiry, I spoke of the Greek 
church, and took occasion to say to him, the Italian 
church does not practice baptism as you do. As if to 
correct my inadvertent phraseology, he immediately 
rejoined, " Baptism ! oh no ! no — they have rantismy 
(sprinkling) ; we have baptism.'" 



APPENDIX. 179 



Note H.— Page 90. 

The doctrine that a series of ordinations transmitted 
in a visible succession from the apostles, is necessary 
to constitute a valid ministry in the church, if strictly 
followed out to its legitimate conclusion^ would lead any 
one of us, either to become a seeker, and wait for a 
new apostleship, or else to unite with the church of 
Rome. While Roger Williams, acting on this prin- 
ciple, came to the one conclusion, we have known those 
who were led by it to the other. The sentiment we have 
here stated, was in effect most strongly asserted by the 
x\rchbishop of York, in the British Parliament, during 
the debates of the year 1558. The bill before the 
House, was for attaching the supremacy of the church 
to the Queen of England. The archbishop said, that 
if the church of England vvithdraw from the church of 
Rome, she would by that act directly forsake and fly 
from all general councils ; and he proceeded to prove 
that the first four councils of Nice, Constantinople, 
Ephesus and Chalcedon, had acknowledged the suprem- 
acy of Rome.* He then presented to their view this 
alternative for consideration. Either the church of 
Rome is a true or false one. If she be a true church, 
then we will be guilty of schism in leaving her, will be 
excommunicated by her, and the church of England 
will become herself a false church. If the church of 
Rome be a false church, then she cannot be a pure 
source of apostolical succession; and the church of 

♦Hansard's Parliamentary History, Eliz. 1558. 



180 APPENDIX. 

England must be false, because she derived her ordi- 
nation and sacraments from that of Rome. 

The question we know was decided in favor of sep- 
aration from Rome ; but the speech of the Archbishop 
presents to the successionist, the horns of a dilemma, 
between which it would seem difficult to choose. 

We have said that the principle of lineal descent 
from the Apostles would lead one directly to the 
Church of Rome, because we suppose that if the line 
of succession can be traced to any one of the Apostles, 
it can be traced to Peter. Yet, who can bring forth 
the register to show an unbroken chain of ordinations 
from him ? In the days of Ezra, those who would be 
acknowledged as priests, were required to prove their 
right by the genealogical register.* On the principle 
of Apostolic succession, we may make the same requi- 
sition now. And in answering such a demand for histor- 
ical proof, we hear Bishop Stillingfleet saying, " We 
find bishops discontinued for a long time in the greatest 
churches. Where was the Church of Rome, when 
from the martyrdom of Flabia and the banishment of 
Lucius, the church was governed by the clergy ?"t 

The learned Cardinal Bellarmine says, " For above 
eighty years, the church, for want of a lawful Pope, 
had no other Head than what was in heaven." 

That celebrated Cardinal and historian Baronius, 
who had well nigh filled the Papal chair himself, says, 
" How deformed was the Roman Church, when harlots 
no less powerful than vile, bore sway at Rome, and at 

» Ezra, II. 62. 

i" Irenecum, p. 576. 



APPENDIX. IQJ 

their pleasure changed sees, appointed Bishops, and 
what is horrible to mention, did thrust into Peter's 
chair, their own gallants, /a/^e Popes! What kind 
of Cardinals can we think were chosen by these mon- 
sters ?*" « Come here," says Stillingfleet, « to Rome, 
and here the succession is as muddy as the Tiber 
itself." The Church of England in the Homily for 
Whit-Sunday, declares that " the Popes and Prelates 
of Rome, for the most part, are worthily accounted 
among the number of false prophets and false Christs, 
which deceived the world for a long while;" and 
prays that the gospel may be spread abroad, «'to the 
beating down of sin, death, the Pope, the devil, and all 
the kingdoms of anti-christ." Various historical chasms 
might be pointed out, but we have only room to quote 
these admissions of successionists themselves, which are 
weighty on account of the source from which thev 
come. 

Godwin, in his history of the bishops, has shown 
that among the English Bishops, many links are want- 
ing which cannot be supplied. He has shown, too, at 
what enormous prices the English Bishops bought 
their ordinations, in the eleventh century, when simony 
prevailed in Italy and England. They committed a 
crime in view of which Peter pronounced Simon Magus 
to be m the gall of bitterness, and to have no part or 
lot m the kingdom of Christ. Then there are decrees 
of councils, pronouncing null aw^ mV^ all those ordi. 
nances, wherein any simonaical contract existed. The 

»Baronius, Tom. X, and Rights of the Christian Church 
quoted m Eclectic Review, vol. V, p. 382, 384. 

16 



182 APPENDIX. 

facts which the providence of God has developed, indi- 
cate that it is not his design that his church should be 
nnade dependent for her ministry, on an outward and 
visible succession. Was not this plainly shown, when 
between Leo IV, and Benedict III, a wicked woman 
filled St. Peter's chair ? 



Note I.— Page 102. 

The four brothers whom we have referred to, as 
grandsons of the Rev. James Brown, deserve to be held 
in lasting remembrance, as illustrations of the truth, that 
" the generation of the upright shall be blessed," and 
as bright examples of those virtues which make in- 
creasing wealth a blessing to the individual, and to 
society. The man of business or of fortune, who iden- 
tifies his happiness with the public welfare, and devotes 
his wealth to the promotion of Christianity, multiplies 
his own sources of enjoyment, and at the same time 
becomes a benefactor to his race. In this country, 
especially, where a mercantile spirit is so widely spread, 
we should hold those in honor, whose lives convey just 
lessons concerning the true use of money. With great 
propriety, this may be said to have been done by these 
four gentlemen, of whom we speak : John, Joseph, 
Nicholas, and Moses Brown. 

John Brown, Esq. was a liberal promoter of relig- 
ion and literature in the town of Providence. He was 
warmly attached to the interests of the Baptist Society^ 



APPENDIX. 183 

and laid the foundation stone of the College, in 1769. 
He was distinguished by untiring industry, and by a 
sound practical judgment, so that although he was 
engaged in many enterprises, he seems to have suc- 
ceeded in all that he undertook. He doubtless pos- 
sessed much of a public spirit, which he evinced in his 
efforts for the improvement of the town. In his day, 
Main-street was a sandy and disagreeable walk ; he 
first caused it to be paved, and although at that time 
he had twenty sail of ships abroad upon the sea, he 
might be seen busily engaged in the work himself, in 
order to be sure that it was properly done. In view 
of his great success as a merchant, it is gratifying to 
be able to say of him, that " his liberality kept pace 
with his riches." 

Joseph Brown, LL. D., was long an active member 
*jf this church, and though engaged in mercantile busi- 
ness, was distinguished as a lover of science, and espe- 
cially for his attainments in natural philosophy. For 
this, his genius particularly disposed him, yet he seems 
to have been equally at home within the realm of taste. 
This temple, which he planned, is a proof to us, that 
he must have been devoted to, at least, one of the fine 
arts, for no one could have succeeded in producing a 
structure of such nice and fair proportions, without 
having given much attention to the study of architec- 
ture. He was a warm friend of the college, in which 
he held the office of Professor of Experimental Philos- 
ophy. As a citizen he was peculiarly useful, for such 
was his knowledge of philosophical naechanics, com- 
bined as it was with good taste, that he was consulted 



184 APPENDIX. 

about almost every thing which pertained to improve- 
ment in the arts. He died in December, 1785. Mrs. 
Ward, of Providence, and Mrs. Rogers, youngest 
daughter of Dr. Gano, are all who remain of his pos- 
terity. 

Nicholas Brown, Esq. was educated to business 
from his early youth, and was as distinguished for the 
exhibition of all the social and mercantile virtues, as he 
was for his success in commerce. Though " diligent 
in business," his mind and heart were too enlarged 
to be engrossed by that alone ; he cherished a lively 
interest in the welfare of his country, the progress of 
learning and religion. " He was an early, persevering 
and zealous patron of the college, and a most exem- 
plary member of the Baptist Society. The language 
of his conduct was like that of the patriarch of old, 
" as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." 
His religious zeal was the effect of a rational convic- 
tion of the great truths of the christian revelation ; 
truths which had been his study for many years, and 
in which his knowledge was deep and extensive. His 
awful reverence for the Deity impresssed every one 
who heard him speak, or saw him write the sacred 
name of the Great Creator and Governor of the world. 
It was his custom, and he often desired others, to write 
it in capitals." 

" He was from sentiment a lover of all mankind, espe- 
cially of good men. He was not ashamed of the gospel 
of Christ, nor of the poorest of his disciples. His 
manners were plain and sincere. He was a faithful 
friend and a good companion, and combining with his 



APPENDIX. 185 

t3xcellent social qualities a general knowledge of the 
world, of books, and of men, his conversation was 
always pleasing and instructive." 

Being generally regarded as a man of piety, and 
expressing always his religious sentiments with great 
decision, it seemed remarkable to many that he should 
have doubted the propriety of his becoming a member 
of the church. A high sense of the dignity of the 
christian profession, connected with an humble estima- 
tion of himself, seem to have prevented his taking a 
step to which his principles and his habits would natu- 
rally and consistently have led him. 

He died on the Sabbath, May 29, 1791, about noon. 
On the following Tuesday, his remains were borne to 
the church, where a funeral sermon was preached by 
Rev. Dr. Stillman. A numerous train of relatives and 
friends followed him to his grave, in the north burying 
place, for it was justly said of him, that " as in his life 
he was universally esteemed, so at his death he was 
universally lamented." Mr. Brown had followed six 
children to the tomb, one of whom, Moses Brown, died 
at the age of 16, just after he had graduated at the 
College, and had awakened the warmest hopes respect- 
ing his future character and life. We are happy to 
say at this day, that two children yet survive him, 
Hon. Nicholas Brown, and Mrs. Hope Ives, widow of 
Thomas P. Ives, Esq. 

The last of this excellent fraternity of whom we 

have spoken, was Moses Brown, who lived to the 

extraordinary age of 97 years, and died on the 6th day 

of September, 1836. Venerable for his age, but still 

16* 



186 APPENDIX. 

more so for his intelligence, integrity, and piety, he 
long remained among us, the representative of a gene- 
ration that had passed away. From first to last he 
exhibited a character formed on the principles of a 
religion which was his guide in life, and his support in 
death. 

At the age of thirtyfive, Mr. Moses Brown joined 
the Society of Friends. In doing this, he doubtless fol- 
lowed his convictions of duty. He ever manifested as 
became him, an interest in religious institutions, and 
liberally supported those of the sect to which he be- 
longed. He was a founder and patron of the Yearly 
Meeting Boarding School in this city, was its Treasurer 
about fiftythree successive years, and manifested a deep 
interest in the moral and religious improvement of the 
pupils. 

Like those of his family of whom we have already- 
spoken, Mr. Brown ever cherished a generous interest 
in the welfare of the community, the commonwealth 
and the country. Though his disposition and his prin- 
ciples led him to keep aloof from party strife, he never 
failed to exercise the rights of suffrage whenever he 
saw any important principle to be involved in the issue. 
He was engaged with his brothers in active business 
only about ten years, and as early as 1773 he with- 
drew from the bustle and stir of trade, to that retire- 
ment in this vicinity, which his natural turn of mind 
qualified him to enjoy. There, living in a style of great 
simplicity, and maintaining habits of regularity and tem- 
perance, he passed through a serene and vigorous old 
age. His intellect was never impaired, his cheerfulness 
was habitual, and he maintained until his death a lively 



APPENDIX. 187 

interest in all that was passing around hinfi. A friend 
of education, of peace, of universal emancipation, and 
of the spread of the bible, his head, and heart, and purse 
were devoted to the promotion of these objects. 



Note J.— Page 110. 

When we consider that this house was built while 
Rhode-Island was yet a colony, we cannot sufficiently 
admire the enlarged and liberal spirit of the men of 
those times. In addition to what is said in the discourse, 
it may be well to mention here, that the lot on which 
the church stands, bounded as it is by four streets, and 
enclosed with a picket fence, is 150 feet long on Main 
street, westward, toward which the house fronts. The 
floor of the building is laid 80 feet square. It formerly 
contained 126 square pews, but in 1832 these were 
taken away and 144 slips were substituted. There 
are large galleries on the south and north. Formerly 
there were two galleries on the west ; in 1832 the 
upper one was taken down, to make room for a large 
organ, a donation from Hon. Nicholas Brown. It is of 
American manufacture,* and cost f 4000. The clock 
with which the house is furnished, and which cost $125, 
was presented also by Mr. Brown ; and the chandelier 
which contains 24 lamps, and cost 8500, was presented 
by his sister, Mrs. Hope Ives. The roof and galleries 
are supported by 10 fluted pillars, of the Doric order. 
The spire at the west end, is 200 feet in height, and is 

* Made by the Messrs. Hook, of Boston. 



188 APPENDIX. 

one of the most beautiful models in the country. It 
was at first furnished with a bell, made in London, 
weighing 2515 pounds, and upon it was the following 
motto : — 

" For freedom of conscience the town was first planted, 
Persuasion, not force, was used by the people ; 

This church is the eldest and has not recanted, 
Enjoying and granting bell, temple and steeple." 

This last specification was doubtless made with 
peculiar emphasis, since in England dissenters have 
ever been forbidden the use of bell or spire. 

That bell was split by ringing in the year 1787, 
and was afterwards recast at Hope Furnace. The 
weight of it is 2337 pounds, and the inscription on it 
is, " This Church was formed A. D. 1639, the first in 
the State, and the eldest of the Baptists in America." 

In June, 1837, a committee was appointed, consist- 
ing of Messrs. Pardon Miller, Truman Beckwith, 
Richard Smith, Asa Pearce, and Amasa Mason, to 
carry into effect the reconstruction of the Vestry. It 
was formed anew and made more spacious. It is now 
76 feet long and 46 wide, and will conveniently seat 
600 people. In this change, particular regard was 
had to the accommodation of the Sabbath School, which 
meets there on Sunday mornings, and embraces 440 
scholars, and 52 teachers. Mr. Richard Eddy is the 
Superintendent. Several Bible Classes meet with the 
Sabbath School. A lecture is held in the vestry on 
Wednesday evenings. The meetings of the Church 
are also held there. The Church at this time embraces 
561 members, and has five deacons, viz. John Hill, 



APPENDIX. 169 

John Dexter, Nathaniel Bump, Varnum J. Bates, and 
Henry P. Yeomans. 

In 1838, a baptistery was added, built on such a plan 
that when it is used, all the congregation can witness 
the holy rite to which it is consecrated. Formerly 
the church resorted to the river on baptismal occasions; 
but the growth of the city has of late years made that 
inconvenient. When we remember that spacious bap- 
tisteries are among the oldest relics of christian anti- 
quity in Europe, we have reason to believe, that the 
extensive revival of the primitive baptism would give 
rise to the building of large and convenient baptisteries 
in all our cities. Many centuries ago, in Pisa, Flo- 
rence, Rome, and other cities, there was one great 
baptistery to which all the churches resorted. At 
Nocera de Pagani, near Naples, there is one which 
dates its origin back to the third century. These, 
though forsaken now, or visited only as objects of curi- 
osity, stand there as witnessess of the past, and the tes- 
timony which they bear, awakens in our hearts the 
hope that the simplicity of ancient times will be re- 
stored. Ere the lapse of another century, we trust 
that such means of honoring God's ordinance, will 
have become common in this country. 



It is but a just tribute which we owe to the memory 
of a departed friend, to acknowledge our obligations to 
the Rev. John Stanford, D. D., for the interest which 
he manifested in the history and welfare of this church, 
and the care which lie took in arranging our earliest 



190 APPENDIX. 

records. He came to Providence in the autumn of 
1787, and supplied the pulpit of this church for one 
year. The following notice of the invitation which 
was presented to him, to accept the pastoral care of 
the church, is copied from the church record, under 
date of December 31, 1787. " This afternoon, the 
principal part of the male members of the church and 
society, attended to the call of Mr. John Stanford, 
Minister, now of New-York, but sometime of England, 
to take the pastoral charge of this church and society, 
for the term of one year." In the evening of the same 
<lay, the joint committee of the church and society met 
at the house of Nicholas Brown, Esq. to report the 
above call of Mr. Stanford. Mr. Stanford being affected 
with the unanimity of the church and congregation, de- 
clared he had no desire or inclination to take the charge 
of any church, but would duly attend to their invitation 
and return an answer by an appointed messenger. 

1788, January 1. " Mr. John Jones waited on Mr. 
John Stanford to receive his answer to the Church's 
invitation." In his reply, Mr. Stanford said, that he 
would be willing to supply the church temporarily, but 
without any expectation of a settlement as Pastor, and 
that he " would attempt to adjust the scattered affairs 
of the church, that the people may be better able to 
settle finally with any other minister whom they might 
choose." Having fulfilled his design, he returned to 
New-York, and labored there many years, as Chaplain 
to the humane and criminal Institutions of that city. He 
died January 14, 1834, in the 80th year of his age. An 
interesting memoir of him, has been written by Rev. 
Charles G. Sommers. 



191 



The following inscription was copied from President Man- 
ning's Tomb Stone, April, 1830. 

IN MEMORY OF 

The Rev. JAMES MANNING, D. D. 

PRESIDENT 

OF RHODE-ISLAND COLLEGE. 

He was born in New-Jersey, A. D. 1738, 

Became a member of a Baptist Church, A. D. 1758, 

Graduated at Nassau Hall, A. D. 1762, 

Was ordained a Minister of the Gospel, A. D. 1763, 

Obtained a Charter for the College, A. D. 1665, 

Was elected President of it the same year, 

And was a member of Congress, A, D. 1786. 

His person was graceful. 

And his countenance remarkably expressive 

Of sensibility, cheerfulness and dignity. 

The Variety and Excellence of his Natural Abilities, 

Improved by Education and enriched by Science, 
Raised him to a rank of Eminence among Literary 

Characters. 

His Manners were engaging, his Voice harmonious, 

His Eloquence natural and powerful. 

His Social Virtues, Classic Learning, Eminent Patriotism, 

Shining Talents for instructing and governing Youth, 

And Zeal in the Cause of Christianity, 

Are recorded on the Tables of many Hearts. 

He died of an Apoplexy, July 29, 1791, 

iEtat 53. 

The Trustees and Fellows of the College have erected 

this Monument. 

1793. 



192 



h.IH ^' f, '^"T"'^ ■"'=""? "^ ">" Charitable Baptist Society 
held in the Committee Room of the First bJJm '' 
House, on Monday evening, December 9 h AD 183 J::'. 

Mor::! '"""" " ''-"-' «»-~ B^z? 

/* «,as .oted. That the Clerk of this Soeiety be reouested 
to enelose and seal a copy of the Rev. Mr. Hague's CenteS 
Discourse, together with such other document' as the Con „ 
mal Committee may direct, and place the same with a suulbfe 
.nscriptmn m the archives of the Society, to be opened in the 

A true copy from the records of said Society. 
Attest, 

GAMALIEL LYMAN DWIGHT, 
Clerk of the Charitable Baptist Society. 



ADVERTISEMENT. 

In order to guard agamst any mistake as to the dale of the 

formation of this Church, it may be well to state, t, at the 

proper time for the celebration of the Centennial Anniversary 

occurred in March ; but by a vote of the Church its observa: ^ 

E»aAT™.-Of the two or three misprints which may be 
found m t IS work, it is not necessary to direct the reader' 
ntion to any except one on page 34-for .,W™, Zl 



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